Calling All OC's
by apersonfromflorida
Summary: Details inside. Beware the llamas and contiue sending OCs!
1. My OC

Okay, so I'm taking a new approach on writing. An OC submission story. You people are probly either _Sweet! My charater might get chosen!_ or _God, not this again._ I don't blame you. Some are written poorly. But I have gained experiance and will not fail you! The example here is my personal OC, Sophia Drake. I have three other OC's that I'll be using (of my own imagination). Credit for the format (that will be given in the next chapter) goes to **wolverine15120**. If you submit an OC, please have an account. It makes it so much easier. Enjoy, and Submit your OC!

Full Name: Sophia Drake

Nickname: Shadow

Age (10-18): 16

Birthday: Unable to remember.

Appearance

Eyes: Blood red. Always has an angry look to them.

Hair: silver or platinum blonde.

Body/build: Tall and big boned.

Height: about six feet tall.

Weight: Hasen't seen a scale in two years.

Nationality: caucasian

Glasses/braces/contacts/ect.: Yes. Dark sunglasses so she can see during daylight hours. Often wears a dark cloth around her eyes.

Scars/Tattoos/ect.(please explain why): Thick, black lines that are the bases for miscalaneous adaptations. She so far has created adaptations for flight, underwater travel, extra armor, and a few spare pieces for extra precaution. She often has a tail, which changes to suit her needs (ex. a mace, spines, webbing, getting thicker/thinner, becoming prehensile, etc.). Since being alone for two years, she is on the brink of insanity, and cuts herself.

Powers info

Codename: Shadow

Uniform:Black pants, loose black shirt, black combat boots, and a black cape with a hood.

Power: Manipulates shadows. Has a limited ability to teleport using shadows as portals. (optional: further down, she gets the ability to read people's souls, and learns how to posess other people's shadows.

Manifestation History: Three years ago, she realized that she was a hated 'mutant'. She pretended to go on with her normal life, but the world slowly got brighter and she started to creep in the shadows. One day, she 'stole' someone's shadow, and she freaked. Sophia managed to 'give' it back. She began exploring her powers, starting with her furniture's shadows and working from there. She became closed off from the world, precticing her power in complete secracy. She wondered if she had more to her power than just manipulation after one year of getting her power. She tried creating portals (because space is related to darkness, and time is related to light), and got stuck in some sort of shadow realm. She was there for three weeks before teleporting to her room. She packed all she could find in her room (that the investigation officers didn't take) and hurled them into her new realm. She has been living in that realm ever since, occasionally porting back to gater food. During her time in the shadow dimension, she has increased the presicion and strength in her power.

Power weaknesses (everyone has them so make at least 2): the ability to trust other people and she is deathly afraid of bright light. (Since light is the opposite of shadow, she can't find any shadows. Hence her fear of bright light.)

How did Family react to them becoming a mutant: Her family never found out. A couple months before she 'ran away', her family was sending her to therapy, and the therapist said that Sophia would be sent to a school for the emotionally disturbed, and would have constant supervision and 'support'.

Is there a History of mutants in the Family: No, but her sisters turned out to be mutants after Sophia has been at Xavier's School for a year.

Bio

History: Before the manifestation of her powers, Sophia was a quiet teenager that enjoyed being by herself. She had few freinds, and didn't respond well to being in crowds. Her mother entered her in a beauty pagent once when she was little, and Sophia learned how to be a great speaker. She was never a bad student, just an under achiever. Sophia retains some information better if she does things witn her hands. Has memorized some useless facts, but really can't retain information well.

Personality: Quiet, introverted, shy, nervous, and a kleptomatic.

Birthplace: Somewhere in Florida. Never really asked for details.

Hometown: A small town outside of Tampa, but you've probly never heard of it.

Favorites

Color: Black, silver, red, and purple.

Music: New rock, dubstep, and any other song that has a meaning to real life and is fast paced.

Band: Has multiple, but prefers Linkin Park the most.

Animal: Dragons, lizards, bats, spiders, and cats.

Song: The Good Left Undone by Rise Against, Light Pollution by Stephan Walking, Through Darkness by ARNEJ, and Lies of the Beautiful people by Sixx AM.

Book: Mainly reads fiction, favors the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series.

Sport: Isn't really into sports.

Food: Anything salty, sweet, and/or bitter.

Most prized possession: A photograph of her family. It's been torn, stained, and folded many different times.

School/Mansion info

Grade (5th - 12th): 10th

Academic Level (how do they do in school): fairly well, but is an under acheiver.

Favorite Subject: anything were she doesn't have to do a lot of physical exersize.

Roommate (2 to a room give me the name of the other Oc's): Which ever fits.

Friends at Mansion: None really

Enemies at Mansion: None really

How much of a trouble maker are they (explain a bit and rate 1-10, 1 being never cause any problems): 7. Sophia is too stubborn for her own good. She often finds out how to do things her own way and doesn't change it.

Anyone at the Mansion that they look up too: She doesn't really look up to anyone.

Other

Fears: Light.

Skills: Sculpting and music. She intends to be an artist when she grows up.

Bad Habits: Nervously taps out rythms, twitches slightly, Bites her nails, and grinds her teeth together.

Likes: Fast music, jokes, darkness, sculpting, and drawing. Will never admit it, but she obsesses over My Little Pony and can name all the characters on the spot.

Dislikes: Bubbly people, attention seekers, dogs, and bright light.

Hobbies/Habits/Activities: Creating music and art, questioning life, philosiphying

Clothes: Wears all black, silver jewelry, and has her hair up in a low ponytail with long bangs.

Casual Outfit 1: A black v-neck t-shirt, with a black unzipped hoodie and long black skinny jeans. has a hole cut in the back of the jeans for her tail, which changes to suit her needs. Silver owl earings with a black necklace that has a tarnished silver claw.

Casual Outfit 2: Red aviator goggles with a black turtleneck. Black vest. Black jeans with tears at the knees. Black frather earrings and a grey ribbon tied around her wrist. A hole in the back of her pants for her tail to go.

Winter: Black t-shirt with three red slashes across the front. Long black overcoat. Dark jeans. Black snowboots. Black cat earings and a ring that is in the shape of a crocodile.

Summer:Black long sleeve shirt, black fingerless gloves. Black capris, and black sandals. wears purple nailpolish on her toes and chipped, sparkly black nail polish on her fingernails. Has a hole in the back of her capris for her tail.

Spring: Similar to Summer, but she wears a black unzipped hoodie. The back of her shirt is slashed so she can have draconic wings.

Fall: Similar to summer, but wears black pants.

Swimsuit: Sophia wouldn't be caught dead in one. But when she needs to swim, she'll wear her clothes while swimming.

Pj's: A grey t-shirt with black sweat pants.

Formal Wear: A modest black dress that comes down to her knees. It has a small v-neck and goes over both of her shoulders. Sophia also wears a silver necklace with a bright silver dragon on it. Her earings are silver dragon wings.

Other Questions

Do they have a cell phone: No, has never seen the use of one.

What car or vehicle does your OC drive (if they can drive): Flies using her wings.

Anything Special about Him/Her?: Sophia rarely cries. When she does, her tears are red, and it's something serious ( extream pain, death, etc.)

Power Scene (**REQUIERED**): (Please use good punctuation and grammer.)

In a dark part of the woods, close to the Rocky mountians, a mysterious figure clothed in black stood. In front of her was a creature that should never exist. A raptor like bird poised to attack was in the clearing. The stars twinkled in the sky, as if mocking the battle that was about to take place. The human looking one spoke.

"We can make this easy or hard, your choice." The human looking one hissed in a feminen voice.

The raptor bird screamed and attacked. The girl seemed to conjour up a black sheild before her befor the raptor bird. The animal dodged it, and lept on the girl. Her face was bathed in moonlight, clearly too pale to be healthy, and grunted in pain. A black bandanna covored her eyes.

The raptor brought it's beak close to the girl's face. It's breath smelled like every rotting carcass it has ever eaten. The girl gave a small smile. The bird gave a puzzled look, and screamed with intence pain.

The girl had a thick, muscled kangaroo-like tail. At the end if the tail was a thin, pointy spine, covored in blood. It warped and melded into a thick mace and proceeded on bashing the bird off the girl. Several sharp cracks reverberated from each hit, breaking several ribs.

The raptor lept away, and took to the skies, thinking that it was safe. A crinckling of leather showed how wrong it was. Flapping steadily behind it was the girl. Paniced, it flapped as hard as it could. A *fwisk* was heard, and the raptor gave it's final scream as it fell, spiraling down into the forest. The girl was hovoring over the raptor's death site, Her bandanna lost in the chase.

Her blood red eyes glowed with an angry lust, lust for another battle that will have to wait until twilight.

The sun was rising, and she knew it would be disaterous if she stayed out any longer.

**TL;DR**

Don't blame you. Basically, the outline is in the next chapter, and this is my OC. Please have an account before you submit.

Keep on Keeping on!


	2. OC outline FIXED

(**Don't freak if you submitted previously. Just PM me if you want to change the age of your character.**)

Full Name:

Nickname:

Age (10-18):

Birthday:

Appearance

Eyes:

Hair:

Body/build:

Height:

Weight:

Nationality:

Glasses/braces/contacts/ect.:

Scars/Tattoos/ect.(please explain why):

Powers info

Codename:

Uniform:

Power:

Manifestation History:

Power weaknesses (everyone has them so make at least 2):

How did Family react to them becoming a mutant:

Is there a History of mutants in the Family:

Bio

History:

Personality:

Birthplace:

Hometown:

Favorites

Color:

Music:

Band:

Animal:

Song:

Book:

Sport:

Food:

Most prized possession:

School/Mansion info

Grade (5th-12th):

Academic Level (how do they do in school):

Favorite Subject:

Roommate (2 to a room give me the name of the other Oc's):

Friends at Mansion:

Enemies at Mansion:

How much of a trouble maker are they (explain a bit and rate 1-10, 1 being never cause any problems):

Anyone at the Mansion that they look up too:

Other

Fears:

Skills:

Bad Habits:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Hobbies/Habits/Activities:

Clothes:

Casual Outfit 1:

Casual Outfit 2:

Winter:

Summer:

Spring:

Fall:

Swimsuit:

Pj's:

Formal Wear:

Other Questions

Do they have a cell phone:

What car or vehicle does your OC drive (If they can drive):

Anything Special about Him/Her:

Scene (Display of powers must have is required for entry):


	3. New Dawn

I would like to thank all that Submitted so far. Don't fret about not being picked, I will try to fit your OC in somewhere. Just keep submitting. If I get your OC wrong, just let me know and I'll fix it.

All your reveiws made me happy! I was crying when I got home from school because of all the submissions I got (that's a good thing!). Here is the first (story) chapter!

A tall teenage boy laid in a medow, with in the sight of the immense mansion that perched proudly on a small rise in the land. He obvoiusly had some native american decent in him. He stared at the clouds, watching them carelessly change their forms. He smiled, the clouds reminded him of himself. They were tinged with pink, red, and purple hues as the sun set in the west. He sat up, his black sleeveless shirt pulled tight over his frame. He pulled his blue jacket closer to himself as a bitter wind blew towards him. Fall was definatly in the air. More breezes, not as cold though, ruffled his hair as his dad used to. He sighed out of homesickness, wondering what his family was doing. He felt something on his leg. He looked down, and a small black kitten was rubbing against his dark grey jeans. It gave a small 'mew' and went to play with his shoelaces. His blak and white converses were slightly mangled and stained from running through everything imaginable. He smiled again, and the kitten looked back at him. It's eyes were a startling red, but it held an innocent look. He picked up the small creature, and held it close to him.

"Hey, Matt!" A voice with a distinct English accent called from across the immence yard. The other teenager had shaggy, brown hair that covered his ears. His green eyes were almost lost behind a mop of hair. "Dinner's ready! You better get some before Davey eats it all!"

Matt stood up, being roughly over six feet tall, he was a head taller than the English boy. He put the kitten in his jacket pocket, and it snuggled into a comfortable position. Mat treked over to the huge entrance of the mansion, where the smaller teen was. "Geeze, Liam. You need to understand the outdoors more."

"Whatever, Wolfie. Davey probly ate everything now." Liam overpronounced the w's in the first sentance. "What's that?" Liam pointed a pale finger at the little black tail dangling out of Matt's jacket pocket.

"Just a little scrap that wandered up to me." There was a hint of a New York accent in Matt's voice. "Let's go claim some food." The taller boy headed to the dining area to grab some food.

"Wait for me!" Liam jogged to catch up to Matt's longer strides.

What they didn't see was the cheshire-like smile spreading on the kitten's face. Shadow will be pleased.

Later that night, at around three in the morning, a small creature slinked outside the mansion, and sprinted to a hollow tree trunk. It made a spine-chilling noise, and grew in size. A car-sized, skeleton of a dragon stood in it's place, and walked into the tree trunk as if it weren't there. After passing through, it was in a dark void. No visible floor was seen, yet the monsterous creature lurched foreward, it's thick talons clicked as if it were walking on marble tile. It walked foreward for a couple more minutes, as if it knew exactally where it was going. It's innocent eyes were replaced by glowing holes in it's skull. Thick, twisted horns protruded from the back of it's wide head. Thick canines hung below it's bottom jaw, much like a saber-tooth cat's would. It slunk like any big cat would, and it swished it's tail back and forth. It heard a skittering to it's left.

There was an equally nightmare-ish creature, a spider the size of a semi truck. It had thick mandibles that slowly dripped and evil-looking red venom, while the large hairs on it swished with each movement it made. It acknoledged the skeletal dragon with a small nod. It had eight eyes around it's head, much like an evil halo, that were a bright red. It gave a series of clicks, before speaking english. "Wraithe, you've been gone for some time, where have you been?"

Wraithe, the dragon, replied with a low growl. "I could say the same for you. Remember that mansion-school Shadow found? It houses ones like her. She could-"

A series of clicks came from the spider. "She's been from the light to long. What if she is killed?"

Wraithe grumbled, and lurched foreward once more. "Krados, I will inform Shadow of my findings. She will decide if she will go or stay."

Krados skittered along quietly behind Wraithe for awile, until he noticed something. It appeared to be a florescent pink. "Wraithe, don't move. There's something on your neck." Krados raised one of his multi-jointed legs to smash the thing off of Wraithe's neck.

` "Wait!" Wraithe screeched before the limb came crashing down on him. His tail was raised in a defensive position over him. "I to take the form of something in order to get in, and I chose a ..." Wraithe mumbled.

"A what?" Krados took his raised limb and held it next to the side of his head, where his ears would be if he had any.

Wraith took a deep breath, "A k..." He mumbled the rest of the word under his breath.

"A kitten?" The immense black spider started shaking, and then gave forth the scariest action possible.

It laughed.

Between guffaws, it managed to say, "You are the weirdest-shadow beast I've ever met!" He took one of his fore-limbs, and patted Wraithe's bony spine before continuing to their planned destination.

In a dark study, quite a ways away from Krados and Wraithe, a lone figure was hunched over one of the many desks. On this particular desk, there was a book with strange symbols in it. It looked like it contained a forgotten language, that looked like it was a combination of music notes, scribbles, and geometric shapes clustered on top of one another. The figure was vaugly human, with large draconic wings and a thick, muscular tail that ended in a wicked talon.

It took one of it's oddly pale hands, and waved it across the surface of the book. The symbols on the book peeled off like demented stickers and began to form something in the palm of the figure's other hand. Lines untangled themselves, shapes split in halves, and the musical notes seemed to compose themselves into a haunting song. After roughly a minute of this, the symbols formed a three dimensional figure in the palm of the humaniod.

The humanoid pulled down it's hood, showing it's facial features. She was intensly pale, with silvery-gold shoulder-length hair. Her eyes had a permenat rage to them. A scowl formed on her lips, as she stared at the figurine in her hands. It was a small lizard, much like a green anole. The only visible flaw that it had was that one of it's legs was slightly crooked, almost unnoticeable. It was unmoving, yet you could see potential in the figure's unseeing eyes. The girl, who looked like she was in her late teens, curled her fingers around the statue-like lizard, and threw it back in the book. It shattered upon impact, and the pieces rearranged themselves into their previous places.

"Failures." She hissed between clenched teeth. She looked at her hands. They were normal. Normal number of fingers, normal size, almost-normal color. That is, if you didn't count the thick black lines that laced her hand. She traced the lines individualy with her fingers. She smirked. She remembered the pain from getting them. It was entirely worth it. She held one of her hands infront of her face, and concentrated. Black webbing appeared between her fingers, along with thick claws. She focused on a different aspect, and got a furry paw-like theme on her hand. She then made her hand normal again, and repeated the process with her other hand, and then her bare feet. She heard a knock on the door. "Come in." She hissed.

"Shadow, we have an important message for you." An immense black spider appeared in the door way. It had features similar to a wolf spider, but it was immense.

"Ah, Krados. News from the light world, now? That happens so often. When will they learn about stability?" The girl, Shadow, chuckled to herself. She turned from her book after erasing and re-drawing a line.

"Wraithe has found a mutant-house. It looks promising, and very stable." Krados clicked nervously. Even though he and Wraithe were her most trusted shadow beasts, it didn't help the fact that she could erase their existance with a flick of her wrist.

"Wraithe has some feed from them?" Shadow's features darkened. This wasn't the first time she was told of a mutant house. A strange man approached her while she was 'buying' some food. He had a strange helmet on, and asked if she wanted to join the 'Acolytes'. She turned the creep down and ran into the shadows, not paying for her food (like she would).

"Yes." The quadraped skeleton dragon growled. He crouched as if he would pounce, putting his head mere inches from the ground, and stopped. A flicker appeared infront of him, and the area he stared at warped an twisted. A scene appeared in front of him:

_Inside a small, semi-dark space, Wraithe was curled up. It was warm, and made of some kind of cotton._

_ "Geeze, Liam. You need to understand to understand the outdoors more." A masculin voice joked. The warmer cotton behind Wraithe hummed. He heard his voice earlier. Mick? Catt?_

_ "Whatever, Wolfie." Liam had an unplaceable accent. European? And Wolfie! Who names their kid that? "Davey probly ate everything now." Gravey? What's wrong with these light-dwellers!_

_ Wraithe sighed. This will be awhile. "What's that?" Liam seemed curious. _

_ Wriathe felt a hand come into the warm pocket and pull him out. Wraithe put on his most innocent face and gave a cute "Mew?"._

_ "Just a little scrap that wandered up to me. Let's go claim some food." After putting Wraithe in his pocket, Wolfie and Liam walked to get their meal._

_ 'Claim' their food? What kind of savages were they? And what does he mean by 'scrap'? He was a fine piece of art that took months of concentration and even more skill to make! He had seven novels just to depict the right dimentions of his skull! Tewnty for his spine and tail! A scrap, I'll show them scra- What's that smell?_

_ The intocicating smell of well prepared food wafted into Wraithe's nose-holes, or as the fleshies called them 'nostrils', and made his mouth water. He poked his kitten head out, and breathed deeply. He was in an elegant dining hall of some sorts. A long table streached from one end of the room to another. Several teenager sat at the table. One with pink hair squealed, and ran up to him and Wolfie._

_ "Matt! That is __**the**__ cutest kitten ever! Can I hold him?" She wore an exessive amount of pink. A pink tank top that had 'princess' scrawled across her chest, pink sandles that seemed to be elevated, and even a small tiara in her loosely tied up hair. The only pink she didn't have on was her ripped skinny jeans, which screamed 'punk'._

_ "Uh, sure." Wolfie handed Wraithe to the punk/princess, who procceded to cuddle him and place Wraithe on her shoulder. Her hair smelled like bubble gum and coconuts. She sat next to two other people, a girl with black, square glasses, and a boy who had dark, understanding eyes. _

_ "Tonia," The girl with glasses looked at Wraithe. "It looks a little thin. And should it be at the table? This is where we eat." The girl who spoke looked moderatly chubby, similar to Shadow, and spoke with another unexplainable accent. Like that Crocodile-hunter dude that Shadow talked about when creating a fish-looking creature. _

_ "Nonsence, Rhea." Tonia asked the girl with dark eyes, "Hey Surya, can you hand me those sausages?" _

_ Surya handed Tonia the large bowl of brown, cylindrical things. They glistened with grease and smelled like they could clog your artieries. Tonia held the bowl towards Wraithe, and he grabbed one of the bigger ones. It was comical watching the small -now kitten- creature try to drag a sausage half its size to a free plate. _

_ "Here, let me help." Surya offered, lifting the sausage to his empty bread plate. _

_ Wraithe padded over to the plate. He put on a face that would melt butter, and uttered a soft "Mew." of thanks. As he bit into the warm meat, grease pooled underneath it. He felt the meat slide down his throat and fill his belly. A chorus of 'Aww's was created when Wraithe fell over trying to rip another piece of sausage off._

_ Soon after dinner was over, Wraithe was cradled in Tonia's arms. Surya and Rhea fallowed behind, and they were all gossiping._

_ "I heard that Professor Xavier is getting new students! I heard that one's named Joe. We need more guys around here that aren't total jerks." Surya started the next gossip round._

_ "I heard that one was called after some flower. Rose? Daisy? I dunno, something like that." Rhea pointed out with a Crocodile Hunter twang._

_ "Well, one of them is going to be dropped off either tommarrow or the day after." Tonia said before she stopped in front of a dorm room. "Sorry, Surya. This is as far as you can come. Professor's being leaniant about you coming this far and what-not." _

_ Surya looked downcast, but then Rhea added, "When we're done bathing the kitten, he can sleep with you and you can name him." _

_ "Thanks." Surya replied, trying to sound up beat. He walked down the hall, and Wraithe was whisked into the girl's dorm. _

_ Half of it was multiple shades of pink, with posters of famouse pop stars and boy bands. Mutiple stuffed animals littered that side in an organized chaos. 'Much like Shadow's room' He found himself thinking. The other half was like a futuristic steam-punk feeling. An Ipod and two other music players were on the streamlined nightstand. Hanging out of one of the drawers was a pair of earbuds and several different chargers. A humming laptop sat on the green bed spread. Upon closer inspection, it had binary code embroidered across it in teal and orange. _

_ Before Wraithe could investigate further, he was whisked away to a small bathroom. Hair products littered half the counter. A pink fluffy towel was placed on the other half. In between was a porcilean sink that held a bottle of hand soap. Wraithe had heard about bubble baths, that they felt like swimming in a small, warm pool. He didn't have time to ponder about it before Tonia gave him a small speech while preparing his bath._

_ "Your lucky, kitty." Kitty? Oh. "If me and Rhea weren't assigned to one of the newer rooms, you'd be getting bathed outside. Everyone is picky about even _washing_ your hands in the sink at the wrong time. Also, everyone has to lug all their crap to the bathroom and lug it all the way back. Me, I just keep all my stuff organised on the counter." Tonia dipped her hand into the soapy water. "Brrr. A little on the cold side. No problem." Tonia snapped her fingers, and a flame hovered centimeters above her fingertip. It grew to the size of an onion, and she dipped it in the water. A furious sizzling came from the water, as if it didn't appreaciate getting burned, and a nice healthy steaming came from the sink. "Rhea! All yours!"Tonia called into the room._

_ Rhea appeared behind Tonia, and Tonia scurried away. Rhea walked up to Wraithe. "Don't worry, kitty. It's not Tonia's fault she's scared of water." Rhea gave a tired smile. Along with her dark eyes, she had almost equally dark bags, making her look older than what she probly was. "Acctually, it was probly my fault." She continued as she placed Wraithe into the sink. The water was delightfully warm, but he had to stay focused if he was to stay in this form. He gave a curious look to Rhea. "Oh, you probly don't know. My mutation deals with dreams. I manipulate dreams, and in turn, I can possibly kill some one." She shivered, despite Wraithe splashing her with luke-warm water. "But you don't have to worry about that. I try to sleep as little as possible to not harm my friends. I couldn't live with myself if I hurt some one who didn't deserve it." Rhea began massaging a shampoo into Wraithe's fur. He smelled coconuts._

_ Rhea continued talking as she massaged the bubbly substance into his fur. _("So that's why you smell like the tropics!" Shadow intterupted the scene breifly.) _"Barely anyone knows my mutation, with the execption of the Professor and Tonia. Not even my parents know. When my powers manifested, I was at a sleep over. It was nice and all, until this girl I didn't like started teasing my best freind. Anne is one of those who get easily offended, but this was strait-up bullying. Stephanie even got her cronies to join in, making Anne cry harder. I felt so, so, I dunno. Like I couldn't help her. That night I entered Stephanie's dream, and gave her the worst nightmare possible. I won't describe it, but it was pretty gory. Like a scene from a zombie apocalypse. Hold still, I need to rinse off the suds." Rhea concluded the story by taking a small plasitc cup and filled it with water from the sink. She poured it carefully over Wraithe's head before going into deeper detail about her power. He zoned out through the majority of it, but picked out words like 'REM cycle' and 'sleeping', but other than that, he didn't get that much. _

_ He was taken out of his stupor when he was lifted out of the water and placed on the pink towel and patted dry with a light green one. Once semi-dry, Wraithe was carried into the girl's room, where hair accesories were strewn across the pink bed. It mostly consisted of pink ribbons, pink hair extentions, pink ponytail holders, and pink baretts. Wraithe had just about every single hair piece on at least once. As Tonia picked out the different items, Rhea cleaned the bathroom up. Tonia talked about her past. "I have lived a more cushioned life than most." Her voice had slipped into an European accent. Wraithe grew a little scared, because Shadow had a slight Russian accent when she was mad, despite her southern heritage. "Oh, your scared? Sorry, it's a habit my father gave me. I had to speak like a proper lady around the public. But Rhea became more of a freind than an aquaintance. In fact, Rhea is like a little sister to me. All my siblings are all older than me, and are all guys. I was 'daddy's little princess' until my powers emerged. I think because of a lab explosion, my powers manifested earlier. My scientist father shipped me off to America with two maids, and shortly after, I was accepted to Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, or here. Ah, this looks good." Tonia fluffed up the big, pink silk bow around Wraithe's neck. It was a nice shade of pink that complemented his midnight-black fur. "Off you go to Surya's room. Rhea! Do you wanna come?" _

_ Rhea poked her head out from the bathroom door. She replied, "Sure. I can finish up when we get back." She clawed at her hair, which would be shoulder length if it didn't appear that something blew up in her face. Her mousy brown hair was sticking up more at one part, but other than that it was fine._

_ "So? Who is it?" Tonia asked in a bossy tone._

_ "Who what?"_

_ "Davey or Surya?" Tonia said exasperated._

_ "Davey." Rhea blushed. She whispered his name._

_ "I won't tell him. Come on, it's been two hours, and Surya probly thinks we forgot about him." Tonia playfully promised._

_ After a walk across the mansion, they arrived to an oak door. On it was a small brass plaque that read, 'David Bonnett & Surya Singh'._

_ Tonia knocked rapidly on the door after handing Rhea the small kitten. The door was answered by a teenage boy. He had short brown hair, and was reasonably tan. He spoke in a heavy southern drawl, much heavier than Shadow's. "Surya went to the gardens. He said something about a tai-chi exersize or something." He was about to close the door when Rhea squeaked something. "Pardon?" The boy asked as he opened the door wider._

_ "We promised Surya that he could name the kitten and keep it, Davey." Rhea thrusted Wraithe towards Davey. He looked mildly surprised, and blushed slightly as he took the kitten from Rhea._

_ "I'll keep him until Surya comes back. He's in the west gardens, next to the willow tree." Davey pointed out before closing the door. Wraithe was in another doorm room. On one half, it had posters of bull riders, pick up trucks, and a bunch of other miscalaneous items you might associate with a cowboy. On the nightstand, was a dried alligator head with marble eyes. The bed wasn't made, and the pillow was at the foot of the bed. On the other side, it was very plain, but it had a certian elegance to it. Wraithe was placed on the neatly made bed._

_ "Now, listen kitty." Davey said in a serious manner. "If you so much as lay a whisker on Fitzgerald, I will skin you and display your pelt on my wall. Got it?" Wraithe was confused. Who's Fitzgerald?_

_ Davey held up the small alligator head. "This is Fitzgerald. He was my first sucessful game. After I was kicked out of my house, my dad left a suitcase full of clothes and food for me. On top was Fitzgerald. As you can guess, Fitzgerald was my source of comfort for the months I was roaming in the swamps. I often talk to him when I'm blue. I'm not crazy for talking to a skull, it just made me feel better knowing that someone was listening. Surya wouldn't understand." Davey added bitterly. He placed the gator head gingerly back on the nightstand, and brought his knees close to him, hugging himself. "It's just, if I get hit, or I'm even bumped into, I absorb it. I'm a ticking time bomb if I don't realease it everyday. and for my exessive eating, if I don't eat, my body will acctually eat itself." He chuckled weakly. "You're just as good as Fitzgerald, kitty. I just wish Surya would hurry up. I'm going to go to the kitchen and get something. Don't make a mess." With that, Davey walked out of the room._

_ Wraithe sighed, and reverted to his normal self. A skeletal dragon, but instead of being car-sized, he was roughly the same size as a panther. He curled up in the space between the two beds, content at the moment. Shadow will love this place. It wasn't perfect, at times chaotic, and had good people. He smiled to himself, he deserved a nice nap._

_Wraithe heard a gasp when he woke up. 'Shit,' He thought. He opened his eyes and looked at the figures in the door way. There were one who looked like a skater, complete with the shaggy hair and a skateboard under his arm. Another one looked like an actor-slash-supermodel guy. The two in front were Davey and Surya. All of them had a stupid look on their faces. 'Well, might as well go all out.' Wraithe thought._

_ "No, I'm not here to kill you, steal your brains, or any other stupid Hollywod-produced plot to take over the world. I'm here on the account of a friend who is interested in comming here." Wraithe sounded bored, but with his rumbling voice, he sounded menacing._

_ "It talked. Matt, Liam, you heard what it said right?" Surya replied in a higher voice than normal. They seemed on the edge of panicking._

_ "Fine." Wraithe scoffed. He transformed into another form Shadow created for him. In about thirty second, an adverage teenaged boy stood in his place. The boy was wearing a black hoodie, and black jeans. the hoodie was up, only revealing his blood red eyes and the lower part of his face, that was unnatuarally pale. Wraithe cleared his voice before continuing, "My name is Wraithe. No, I'm not like you. I'm not even vaugely human. You see, I come from a paralell dimension, and blah blah blah. Basically, I'm harmless until provoked and am a highly trained assasin." He finished with a smirk._

_ "Our cat just talked." Liam, the skater boy, said with a blank look on his face._

_ "Not only that, I can juggle!" Wraithe conjured three balls of shadows, and began juggling them._

_ Once the inital shock got over them, the group ran down the hall scraming "Professor!". _

_ "Pity." Wraithe shook his head. "They never got to see me fly." He walked calmly out of the room, and down to the ground, changing into a kitten along the way. It was sometime past moon high, and Shadow would like an update on the mansion._

"Well you definately caused chaos there." Krados pointed out. He was in a relaxed posture, almost sitting on the ground. His eight legs were drawn close to him.

"This place seems ligit. I might try it out." Shadow was also in a relaxed posture. She was sitting in a chair she conjoured up, enjoying the fact that she wasn't the only one with powers. She yawned. "It must be getting close to sunrise. I'm going to bed. Day Wraithe, Krados." Shadow acknowleged them before she retired for the day. she's going to need a full day's sleep if she was going to be ready for that mutant school in the evening.

Well, I'm sorry for the late posting. It's been busy for me at high school and what not. Well, the next chapter will explain Surya's, Matt's, and Liam's past. Also, if your OC wasn't in this chapter, it will be in latter chapters. So don't fret, and keep sending them in!

KEEP ON KEEPING ON!


	4. Leaving for the Light

**AN's at the bottom!**

Shadow rose from her blissful sleep. It was one of the few things that truly made her happy in this dark void. After tossing her blankets aside, she placed her feet on the cold tile of her room. She padded over to the bathroom for a much needed shower to wake her up. She undressed, and stood under the icey stream of water. She washed herself, and thought about where she would go. The mutant school looked promising, but she didn't want to appear empty handed. She thought about creating a shadow beast for them, but dissmissed the idea when she remembered how the boys reacted to seeing Wraithe's true form.

She finished her shower, and dried off. She thought about mabey creating a small time rift for them, to decrease the walking distance form one side of the mansion to the other, but soon decided that was virtually impossible, unless she was with each individual person as they walked through the time rift. Shadow walked over to her dresser. It was one of the few things that was not composed of pure shadow. It was made of black obsideon, with silver engraved into intracate patterns. She picked through her clothes, finding a black v-necked t-shirt. She put on some undergarments, and slipped the shirt over head. She began digging around for her black pants, she soon found them. She stepped into them, and after fastening them, she walked over to an elegant desk.

The desk had a large jewelry box on it, containing hundreds of silver-colored earrings. She glanced over them, and picked out a satisfactory pair. They were ivory-colored turtles floating in small orbs half-filled with a blue liquid. She inspected the neaklaces hanging on the wall, and lifted one up. The pendant hanging at the end was a black english horn, a superstitious chili-pepper-looking thing that supposedly warded away evil. "I'm going to need all the luck I can get." Shadow muttered to herself as she place the necklace over her head. She grabbed some black fingerless gloves laying next to the jewelry box, and slid them onto her hands. Even though this hid her grafting work, she supposed that it would raise a lot of questions. She put on a bright red belt, even though it clashed terribly with her earrings. She saw that in the mirror, and frowned. She took out those earings, and replaced them with bright red feathers. She brushed her hair into a low pony tail, and walked back into the bathroom.

Happy with her appearance, she brushed her teeth. She gave herself a puzzled look, wondering why her reflection was different, Then she remembered she forgot to brush her bangs down. After spitting out the toothpaste foam from her mouth, Shadow rinsed her mouth, sent a curse to all things minty, and grabbed a hair brush that she always kept as a back up if she ever lost her main one. She brushed down her long bangs so they covered half of her face. She then tucked half of her bangs behind he left ear, and did the same with her right ear.

She put on some socks and black sneakers, and walked to a kitchen area. She snapped her fingers, and a spindly bi-pedal creature appeared. It had a long, thin face and longer, thinner fingers that twiched with anticipation.

"Jaques, I'm in the mood for a nice omlett. Bacon, cheese, and spinich, please. Also, can you add a nice side of hashbrowns too?" Shadow politely asked the odd-looking Chef.

"We!" Chef Jaques spoke with a French accent, and scurried to find the ingrediants. His long fingers felt the eggs, as if to see which area would be the easiest to crack and get the least amount of eggshells in the mix. After cracking three eggs, he whisked the eggs at the speed of any mechanical egg beater. He poured the mixed eggs into the already sizzling pan on the stove. By now, Chef Jaques was humming some tune, to help him work faster as he searched for the ingrediants to put in the omlett. He found the ingrediants, and began frying some potatoes for the hash browns.

While this was going on, Shadow was gathering up some freinds around her home. Phillis, a baby drakon; Marcine, a mamothine; and Theo, a basilisk were all invited.

Phillis was first to arrive. A cat-like creature lept onto a seat. He looked like a dragon, with the exeption that he had a beak and head feathers. His feathery wings flapped slightly before folding neatly against his sides. He had grey streaks in his black feathers, which was rare in the shadow realm. Shadow didn't mind, and she looked over him like she would after a younger sibling. He turned his head towards Shadow, and chirrupped "Evening, Miss!" Before talking about how he was exploring the yard to find the 'Lost Treasures of the Whoo-Doo Tribe'.

Before Phillis finished his story, Marcine appeared. A towering ten feet tall, she was an intimidation figure. She looked human and walked like one, but instead of a human head she had an elephant head. She used her prehensile trunk to tap Phillis's shoulder. Phillis squealed, and lept into Marcine's arms. It looked like an odd pair, but it warmed Shadow's heart. She conjoured up a small toy for phillis to play with while she and Marcine talked. Together, Shadow and Marcine swapped jokes and ideas. The mamothine was a fellow artist, but she worked more in the second dimension. Marcine showed Shadow a sketch of something she saw emerging from the sewers of a small city in New York. It looked like a normal human, but it had bony plates of armor covoring his face and torso. His eyes held a hatred for something. Shadow and Marcine disscussed the possibilities, when the final guest came.

Theo looked like a wyveren with a rooster head. He was also blind. He sang in a surprizingly melodic voice, "With the stars twinkling, I bid you all a good," He held out good for a sort time, fallowed with a gental finish. "Evening." He seemed to have gained a sixth sense by being blind, and made his way to sit down in a chair. "Dear Jaques, can I please request a glass of grape juice?" Even when he wasn't singing, his voice was still melodic. Soon after he made the request was made, breakfast was served.

Phillis was served his favorite cereal from the light world, Cocoa Puffs, with 2% milk. He thanked Jaques before grabbing a spoon and digging in. Marcine had a large platter with sausages, bacon, and other breakfast meats. Theo drank his juice before starting on his pancakes. Shadow ate her omlett before breaking the news to her close freinds.

"I might go to the light world and join a mutant school." Shadow said it quickly, hoping her freinds wouldn't register it, and just agree.

Phillis sprayed milk in font of him, and Marcine choked on a sausage. Theo was the only one who took it calmly.

"I understand." Theo spoke in a quiet voice. "You belong in the light world. But you must understand, you cannot live in two places at once. You can transition for as long as you want, but you must have a final choice." Theo began eating his pancakes again.

Marcine took it harshly. "Why are you going to the light world? It's dangerous there, they have weapons that can take me down in less than a minute. The only reason I go up there is for inspiration, and then I high-tail it back here. I have seen people get viciously attacked because they had something that the other person didn't have. Feuds that date back centuries are still being fought today. People and animals alike dying in horrible ways. Greed and hate running rampent. That world is full of dangers."

Phillis, however, had a totally different out look on it. "The light world!" He squealed. "Can I come? I heard amazing things about that! They have entire books dedicated to just different colors! I want to see the moon and the sun and the grass and birds and everything!" Phillis was bouncing in his seat, giggling histerically.

"I need to find where I truely belong. Marcine, remember how you were before you could draw, or how Theo was before he discovored music? Yes, I can manipulate shadows, but what good will that do me here? I need to figure out how the light world works. It's been two years, guys, and I don't know anything." Shadow sighed. It was hard for her to admit it, but she really didn't know anything more about her powers than when she first came to the shadow realm. She figured out the basics in the light world, and just improved in details and accuracy while in the shadow realm. Nothing else really improved.

"Can I come!" Phillis cried. He lept into Shadow's arms, and begged. "Pleasepleaseplease!"

"Sure." Shadow smiled sadly. She was going to need help.

"Come on! Let's pack!" Phillis jumped around.

"I'll help you, Phillis," Theo offered. " Marcine, why don't you help Shadow?" Theo 'shoo'ed the little drakon to his room.

"I still don't think this is a good idea." Marcine told Shadow as she reached for a book on the book shelves. "Pirates?"

"Sure. I'll be fine. Besides, I have several 'helpers' in the light world." Shadow pointed out. She had a suitcase opened on her bed. In it was several shirts, pants, undergarments, and nick-nacks. She was placing the books that Marcine gave her in a seperate bag. On her bed was her jewelry box, closed up and containing all of her accessories, a bag for her hygenic needs, and her suitcase. She was in the process of chosing novels to give to the Professor for taking her in. Her choice ones were already in another bag, but she needed one more to complete it.

"What to pick, what to pick." Shadow scrutinized the shelves. There were topics ranging from religion to fantasy to a few sciences, all given the ability to produce three dimentional pictures and sounds. She found one, but kept the title hidden from the gigantic mamothine. "Done. Now, let's see how Phillis and Theo are doing." She said as the bags shrank to the size of her fingernails, and stuck them in her pockets.

They walked into complete chaos. Theo was limping, Phillis was bouncing off the walls, and it looked like a tornado hit the room. "Phillis, If you are not ready within the next five minutes, you are not going." Shadow called in a threatening tone.

Phillis shreiked and began cramming miscalaneous toys into his small suitcase. "I'm done!" He cried as he shoved a small stuffed animal in his suitcase. Phillis grabbed the small suitcase in his mouth, and dragged it beside Shadow. "Wef't go!" He said impatiantly.

"Bye Marcine, bye Theo!" Shadow and Phillis called behind them. She and the baby drakon walked into the dark void, towards a certian exit. They should arrive by sunrise, at the latest.

Zoe was nervous about going to a boarding school. She has never been away from her family for longer than a school day. What if she destroyed everything? Or even -_gulp_- killed someone on accident? She didn't want to harass her parents with another legal case just because of her.

It was too much for the eleven-year lod to worry about. She tried to focus on the things zooming past the window of the car her mom was driving. She used to have the same straberry-blonde hair as her mother, but recently it started growing out purple. She also had a bit of 'baby fat' as her mother put it. Hundreds of cows zipped past the window. "Mom, are we almost there?" Zoe tried to sound upbeat, but was nervous about going still. They've been on this road trip for two weeks, with as little rest stops as possible.

"A couple more hours, sweetie." Her mother sounded tired and worn out. She had volenteered to go instead of Zoe's father, who worked two jobs to pay the bills.

"Okay." Zoe finished uneasily. The butterflies in her stomache increased by the trillions. How old are the kids? Will they be willing to play with her? What about snacks? Will they be plenty sugary? Will they ever have leftovers? The sun set behind the car, and it was getting dark now. They just entered Bayville, the city where the boarding school was. The minivan crawled it's way down the side streets, searching for the 'Xavier's Instatute for Gifted Youngsters'. The minivan rolled up to the gates of the massive school.

Zoe's mother pressed the intercom button at the gates. "Mr. Xavier?" She asked hopefully.

"Ah, Mrs. Campbell. Please, come in." A wisened voice spoke on the intercom. Mrs. Campbell drove towards the mansion once the large black gates swung inwards. The sheer size of the mansion could make it count as a national monument of some sorts. It was easily six stories tall, and was seven times as wide. At the front door was an elegant woman. Due to her appearance, she looked like an African queen. The only thing that off-setted her appearance was that she had silvery-white hair that fell down to her waist.

The woman at the door spoke in a soft, yet firm voice. "Zoe and Mrs. Campbell, My name is Ororo. Will you please come with me?" Ororo asked the driver and passanger in the minivan. "Mr. Logan will get your luggage." She gestured to a man who was five feet tall. His hair seemed to naturally slicked up into two points, with long side burns. It looked like he had lived a hard life, but didn't look that old.

"I'll need your keys, Miss." Mr. Logan was gruff with his words. Mrs. Campbell was hesitant to give him the keys to her van, seeing it was her only way home, but she handed them to Mr. Logan. He walked to the back of the minivan and picked up the three periwinkle suitcases that were Zoe's. He hefted them onto his shoulders, and walked into the mansion. Ororo followed close behind, and behind her was Zoe and .

Mr. Logan took a right, and Ororo took a left, and stopped at tall, oaken double doors. "Professor?" The elegant lady opened the doors a crack and called in.

"Come in, Mrs. Campbell." Professor Xavier called. Zoe's Mother walked through the door.

The Professor's office was very spatious. A large stone fire place was on one side, and hanging above it was an oil painting of the mansion it occupied. Behind the Professor's desk was a wall of book cases, filled with thick novels that were guilded with golds and silvers. The Professor himself was sitting in front of a tall window that streched from the floor to the ceiling. He was gazing out into the night sky, watching the half-moon glide across the sky. "Mrs. Campbell, please have a seat," He guestured to a comfortable-looking chair set across from him. "Ororo, can you take Zoe to her room?" The Professor asked the regal woman.

"Yes Professor. Come, Zoe." Ororo took Zoe by the hand and led her down the twisting hallways. Zoe lost count of how many turns Mrs. Ororo took her, until she stopped infront of a door. "Zoe, this is your room, 3-452. If you ever get lost, just ask one of the other students and teachers to help you. Now, you need to get ready for bed, it's almost midnight." Ororo finished on a kind tone. "You have your own bathroom for now, and don't forget to brush your teeth." Ororo walked to the door next to her's, and gave three quick nocks.

Two older girls walked out. One had light hair with neon-pink streaks in them. She was wearing a short pink night dress. The other looked incredibly tired, she was fighting to stay awake. That girl wore something more modest, a long white cotton shirt and teal shorts. "Hi Mrs. Ororo. This a new student?" The one wearing pink asked in a perky voice.

"Yes, Tonia. Can you and Rhea make sure she feels welcome, and make sure she makes it to the dining room for breakfast?" Mrs. Ororo asked the two teens.

"Yeah, no problem. Get your pj's on, and come to our room." Tonia said. Rhea nodded, now suddenly looking nervous.

"Okay." Zoe trailed off. She opened the door to her room. It was very plain, with two wooden nightstands, and the two single beds had pale blue sheets in them. An ivory table lamp sat on each nightstand.

Mrs. Ororo walked in behind Zoe. "Later, you can desinge your room better. This is the standard for all the rooms. The longer your here, and also depending how good you are at school, you can personalize your room more. I'll leave you to get ready for bed. Your mother will stay in the other bed just for tonight. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, Ma'm." Zoe said politely. Ororo walked out of Zoe's room. The eleven-year-old saw her suitcases on her bed. She opened one and pulled out her favorite pajammas, red pants with penguins and a large grey shirt. After changing, she knocked on Tania's and Rhea's door. She was met by a peppy Tonia.

"Zoe! Glad you could make it! We were about to begin 'A Very Potter Musical'! Come on! The popcorn's ready and everything!" Tonia said as she dragged Zoe in. The half of the room that looked like Tonia's had a variety of pinks. Stuffed animals were organized half-hazardly across the pink nightstand, the pink bed, pink nets that were over flowing, and several other surfaces. A laptop was set up on the bed with a Firefox browser window open. The Youtube page that was up was 'AVery Potter Musical, Act 1 Part 1', and it was paused at the moment. Rhea was sipping out of a Monster, and three other empty cans were lying around her feet.

"You want anything to eat or drink? We got premission from Professor to have a minifridge up here." Rhea pointed to a small fridge in the far corner. On top of it was a small set of shelves, and a microwave. It looked almost like a college dorm.

"No, I'm fine. What's 'A Very Potter Musical'?" Zoe asked.

Rhea explained, "It's a play put on by college students. It's basically a parody of Harry Potter."

Zoe replied with an uncertian, "Oh." She's read a little of the popular novel, but never got the full concept of it. She took a seat next to Rhea on the green bed in the room.

Before Tonya began the video, she bounced down on the other side Zoe. In her lap was an unpopped bag of popcorn. Before Zoe could point anything out, Tonya placed her hands on either side of the bag. Popping could be heard from the inside of the bag. In less than a minute, the bag was full of steaming, buttery popcorn. Tonya held the bag out to Zoe, and Zoe stared in wonder.

"You want something else?" Rhea asked Zoe. Zoe nodded, wondering what else they had. "You have to promis not to tell anybody, expecially not Jamie." Rhea warned. Her dark hair looked like something blew up in her face. She walked over to their microwave, and opened it. Inside was the motherload of chocolates, candy, and masses of sugary goods. Rhea plucked out a Hershey's bar, and closed the microwave again. Giving the chocolate to Zoe, Rhea got herself a small box of gummi bears. As soon as She sat down, Tonya played the video.

It was pretty good. The songs were sung well, and it was comical. After the first act, Zoe's mother checked on her. It was about one in the morning. Mrs. Campbell allowed her daughter to stay up with her new freinds, and bid her goodnight. "I'm only going to be here one night, " She told her. Mrs. Campbell walked into the room next to theirs and promplty went to bed.

Zoe had a feeling that this place was going to be fun.

Shadow and Phillis passed into the light world just as the sun was rising, about five o'clock. It was a long trek, and they were tired. A tall and wide mansion sat on a small rise in front of them. With the sun rising from behind, the grass and landscape was tinged from light yellows to bloody reds. Phillis was squealing with delight.

"Marcine told me about that! Their called _hues_ and these are called _shadings _and this-" Phillis continued in his hyper voice. Shadow just grunted in acknowledgement. She had fashioned a blindfold for herself before exiting the shadow realm, but Phillis declined the offer. The little drakon was going on about the scenery before being cut off with a squeak. He ran behind Shadow, grabbing her leg, trembling.

She made the blindfold so she could still see, yet the light wouldn't blind her. She chuckled, "Phillis that's just a squirrel."

"I-I was just making sure you were okay." The young drakon tried to sound brave.

"Come on, we need to get in." Shadow began walking to the entrance of the massive house.

It was bigger up close. The sandy colored mansion leered down on them, as if daring them to take a step inside. In order to prevent from tripping any security that the place, Shadow was going to try to shadow travel past the glass doors. She scrutinized every last detail in the room. She took Phillis into the crook of her arm, and walked foreward. A black hole appeared to swallow the pair up. The last thought that Shadow had was, _'Man, they need to dust the chandelier better.'_

Hey! Just me. If your character hasn't been introduced yet, they will be in the near future! And I issue a challenge to all those who can draw better than me. If possible, can you draw one or more of the characters so I can see if I'm effectively describing the characters? Thanks!

I know I said I was going to get the other character's pasts in, but I'll try to fit them in in the next chapt. Sorry.

Also! Shadowbeasts, yay or nay? Should they play a bigger role, kept the same, or just eliminated all together? I won't start writing until wendsday, so that will give you time to answer. The next chapt will be up in a week or two.

Keep on keeping on!


	5. Mabey this was a bad idea

As Shadow walked through the black hole, another girl was spying on her. She had shoulder-lenght dark hair, and a scowl on her face. X23 was invited to join the mansion a while back, and Logan had dropped her off on Wendsday. She stayed blended into the background, watching the others go about their business. She learned while hiding in plain sight, and what that stranger did was not normal.

X23 walked through the entrance of the mansion to see if the intruder was really in the mansion now. She heard the sound of leather crinkling above her, and looked up. That same girl was somehow tangled in the chandelier.

The girl looked down, and saw her. She chuckled weakly, "Can you help me?" The strange girl was wearing all black, and had sheet-white skin. Her hair was almost as pale as her skin. She wore gloves, like that Rouge girl, but the fingers were missing. The biggest detail that X23 saw that a black blindfold was wrapped over her eyes. What was this girl's power? "Well, if you can't help me, may I have premission to saw the chandelier?" The girl's voice broke her train of thought. It almost cracked, mabey from disuse?

"Stay here." X23 spoke for the first time in the past twenty-four hours. She wasn't the one to mince words, and she concluded that the strange girl wasn't either. Off to wake up Kitty, and see what she could do. Kurt would be a great help, too.

Shadow was mildly confused. She was stuck upside down in a chandelier roughly twenty feet up. She wrapped her tail around one branch of the chandelier, to steady herself. Her back was free from the bars, which ment even if she did get free, it was a long drop that could end in paralysis. Of course she was going to stay put!

X23 walked through the twisting hallways, with Kitty and Kurt tailing her after she woke them up. They didn't ask any questions, which weighted the situation towards her favor. Once she stood under the chandelier, she instructed Kurt and Kitty. That's when they snapped out of their sleepy stupor.

"Vhat?" The blue fuzzy mutant glanced at Kitty to make sure they heard the same thing. X23, who has barely spoken five words in the past two days, asked them to rescue a total stranger from an impossible place to get stuck.

"Well, I'll, like, do it. Kurt, if you please?" Her valley girl accent echoed faintly in the empty room. She held her hand out to Kurt, and with a quick _bamf!_, Kurt and Kitty were perched at the top of the chandelier. It groaned in protest, not used to the added weight.

Shadow watched them warily. One of them looked like a shadowbeast know for it's ruthlessness, and the other just scared her for some reason. Only airheads and cheerleaders talked like that, and she's encountered rabid cheerleaders before. Before she could ask the two what they were doing, the valley girl began passing through the metal bars as if they were non-existant. The valley girl grabbed Shadow's hand, and she too began passing through the bars. As soon as she passed the last bar, gravity tightened it's grip on the two girls, and they fell towards the floor. Three quick _bamf_s were heard, and Shadow was standing on the ground, next to the valley girl and the blue fuzzy one, 'Kurt'. Shadow also felt slightly nausious. Phillis, stumbled from behind her, and collapsed on to the other girl. That was the girl that got help. Well, she might as well introduce herself.

"The name's Shadow. This's Phillis." Shadow said in a quiet voice. "Is this Xavier's Instatute for Gifted Youngsters?"

"Like, yeah. I'm Kitty, this is Kurt, and this is, like, Lauren." Kitty's voice bounced. She guestured to the other two, but Lauren looked like she wanted to correct the bubbly girl.

"What's your real name, Lauren?" Shadow asked. All three seemed to be taken aback by the question. When X23 came to the mansion, she chose that name. The others didn't know that wasn't her name.

"X23, past agent of HYDRA." X23 replied. She looked somewhat nervous.

Shadow raised her hand. "I won't press for answers. Can I have a place to rest? We were travelling all night."

"Vould you like breakfast first?" Kurt asked in a german accent. Now, Shadow saw that he had a tail. It was thin and serpentine, with a spade at the end. Personally, Shadow likes thicker, more muscled tails with some form of a weapon at the end, but everyone had their prefrences.

"Don't you mean dinner?" Phillis asked sleepily. They seemed a little surprised by the small drakon speaking, but quickly hid it.

"Sure. Come, Phillis." Shadow said formaly, and when Phillis didn't move, she scooped him up into the crook of her arm and followed the trio to their dining hall.

Surya is normally an early riser, often getting up hours before Davey, who could easily sleep until noon. After making his bed, Surya began gathering his things for his shower. Instead of keeping them in the bathroom, he kept them in a drawer in his nightstand. Once he collected everything he needed, including a change of day clothes.

In the bathroom, he locked the door behind him and slipped out of his pj's. He tought about his past as he showered. Having been adopted, he knew little about his birth-parents. His adoptive parents, the ones he truly thought of as mom and dad, had many different funds that pooled into their businesses. His older step-siblings mainly took care of him, after that day. Surya cranked the water to it's highest temperture, scalding the skin on his back. He shivered in spite of this. All that snow...

After toweling off, he changed into his day clothes. He put on some brown slacks and a striped button-down shirt. Out of habit, he unbottoned the top three. He ran a brush through his short curly hair. With the mirror being steamed, he didn't need to bother with glasses until later. While flossing, he chanted some sort of mantra in his head. '_Calm mind, calm body, calm spirit._' He thought. Finishing his morning routines, he exited from the bathroom and proceeded to try and wake up Davey.

Davey was a pain to get up, but if Surya didn't wake him Davey would complain of hunger until lunch and sometimes dinner. "David, get up." Surya demanded. His voice had a slight Indian accent, and held a highly formal tone. He went over to his nightstand and grabbed his glasses. Surya could see fine without them, but he needed them to see any details. He slipped the steel framed glasses into his shirt pocket, while threanening, "David, if you don't get up, I will personally make sure you _don't_ get anything to eat for breakfast."

That phrase seemed to jolt Davey awake. "I'm up!" He exclaimed, and rushed to get ready. Davey knew Surya would not let him out of the room unless all morning routines were done. Davey slipped on a white shirt that was captioned, 'I was arrested on C.O.P.S.' and grabbed his jeans and underwear before heading into the bathroom to finish changing. As Davey was getting out of his pajammas, Surya made his bed. Not a wrinkle was seen on it when he was done. Surya sat on the freshly made bed and waited for a frantic Davey to finish getting ready.

Surya grabbed a novel he always kept on his nightstand. This week, it was one of his personal favorites, _13 Reasons Why_. It was about a teenage boy who's crush commited suicide, and he was one of the reasons she commited suicide. It might have been a more girly novel, but it was a good read. Unlike _Twilight_. How did people even stomach it, let alone read it? He became deeply engrossed in the book, and it seemed that Davey finished in seconds. "Surya, come on!" Davey called as soon as he walked out the door. Surya placed a plain, navy blue bookmark between the pages of his book and went to follow Davey to the dining hall.

Davey had already zoomed through the buffet tables, that were ever present, and was sitting by Matt, deep in conversation. In fact, everyone seemed to be. The only time when that happened were when it was a snow day or there was some really good gossip. Since it was August, it had to be the latter. As he neared the buffet tables, a trio of girls sat close enough so he could hear their disscussion.

"...could be dangerous. I mean, didn't she have a blade on her tail?" Rhea spoke in a worried tone. She seemed more nervous and sleep deprived than normal.

"Yeah, and she had on gloves and a blindfold. The entire time, she, like, always knew where we were! She was also very quiet, like a ghost." Kitty proclaimed. It seems that she saw the person the rumor was about.

"Didn't she tower over you and Kurt?" Tonya had a look of horror on. Surya was watching the conversation out of the corner of his eye, and when Tonya spoke he felt like sitting next to her and trying to comfort her.

Surya had walked away from their conversation, and made his way to where Liam was sitting. As soon as he sat down, Liam jumped into the gossip news. "Have you heard of the two new students? Well, supposedly two. One is over there," Liam pointed his fork towards a small girl talking to Jean, a red haired telekinesis. "The other one ate before anyone woke up, save Kitty, Kurt, and Lauren." He pointed out each person to identify them, before spearing his scrambled eggs and stuffing them in his mouth. "No one else knows what this chick looks like, and I think it's getting blown way out of proportion." Liam observed through a mouthful of eggs.

Surya cringed back. "Yes, well, I just wonder what her mutation is, exactaly. Who would be so secrative about it, unless it was a physical mutation as well? Depending on the severity of the mutation, it can possibly lower the confidence in one person's abilities, like Kurt's for example. Also, depending on the power, the person could have to adapt a certian length to either keep their mutation a secret or prevent it from hurting others, like Scott's or Rhea's." By now, Surya became an analytical drone, pointed out all possibilities for the mutation of the rumored student, and giving examples.

"Surya?" Liam interrupted his freind before he could continue any further.

Surya replied with an annoyed "What?"

"Please continue, it was very interesting." The voice seemed quiet, timid, yet held an icey edge. It seemed to demand attention, yet wasn't sure it was really wanted.

Surya and Liam turned to see who spoke. It was the girl everyone was gossiping about. All the rumors were true. She easily was taller than all of them by a couple inches, at least. She had sheet-white skin, with almost eaqually pale hair pulled back. She wore all black, down to her sneakers and accesories. She also had black, fingerless gloves and a black blindfold wrapped around her eyes. But instead of malice and hatered, she had a curious look on her face. Her t-shirt was large and baggy, hiding her figure underneath. Her pants were the exact opposite, tight fitting and hugging her toned legs. The last thing Surya noticed was the thick black stripes that were on her pale arms.

The Professor was in his wheelchair next to her. "Surya, eccelent theories. What do you think, Shadow?" Professor X asked the girl on his left.

"Very well rounded." She replied, before stifling a yawn. "Sorry, issomonia. What, with the light and all." She waved towards the chandelier hanging above the long table.

The Professor wheeled away, with Shadow following him like, well, a shadow. She seemed to do a slight serpintine behind him, walking a few paces on one side before going to the other. Professor X sat at the head of the table, with Shadow standing behind him. "As you all have heard," The Professor addressed the students at the table, "We have two new students with us today. Zoe," He guestured to the young blonde girl next to Jean. "And Shadow." He then guestured behind him, where Shadow stood, looking like a deer in headlights.

There was a chorus of 'hi's and 'welcome's, but the one that freaked Shadow the most was the sharp 'bamf!' next to her and a cheerful "Hallo!" She willed shadow-armor to covor her, and her tail to grow a serrated edge. A mettallic sound filled the air, and a thick, jagged blade at the end of her tail pressed against the throat of the blue, fuzzy demon-looking one.

Zoe didn't know how to react when the tall girl next to the man in the wheelchair attacked Kurt for just saying hello. So, she paniced.

Plates filled with steaming food floated up and slammed into people's faces. Silverware impaled itself in the walls. Tables and chairs floated around, along with other students. A few were slammed into the ceiling. The girl in black armor doged everything, and sliced a few things in half. One guy touched a ring on a leather necklace he wore and turned silver. Two others turned into wolves and tried to tackle the girl in armor. Kurt was teleporting everywhere, trying to get people back on the ground, only to have them float back up. Scott shot an optic beam towards Shadow, only for it to hit Tonya, who in turn was thrown into her room mate, Rhea. Shadow lept agiley from platform to platform, almost knowing the gravity changes there. It was utter chaos, until the Professor shouted, "Stop!"

Some how, Shadow was tangled in the chandelier again. "Um, help?" She asked akwardly, after all the furniture and levitated students crashed to the ground.

"Professor! We came-" A large blue furry ape-looking man ran into the room, with a lady that had chocolate-colored skin. "In not enough time, apparently." They surveyed the scene infront of them. Students and furniture strewn everywhere, and a girl dressed in all black was tangled in the chandelier, struggling to get out. This could take a while.

"Thanks." The girl in black said as she was lowered from the chandelier. She insisted on being the last one to be helped, since she caused the entire fiasco. Once reaching the ground, she dusted herself off, and surveyed the room. It looked like a tornado went through it.

"Well, I must say you have controle of your powers." Another girl said, was it Rouge? Zoe was never good with names.

"Uh, thanks?" The shadow girl wasn't sure if the statement was a complement or sarcasim. The shadow girl walked towards Zoe. Zoe almost paniced, and she levitated a fork on the ground next to her.

Shadow knelt so she was eye-level with Zoe. "I'm sorry." With that, Shadow walked away from the dining hall. Mabey she really didn't belong here yet.

Hi!

I'm sorry the chapter is so short! This week, my AP Human Geography teacher made us summerize about 30+ pages of our textbook for homework.

Also, I will try to get back on track with submitting chapters on Friday, so the next chapter may be short as well.

Keep on keeping on.


	6. The Cheat  Sheet

Okay, so people have PMed me to create a cheat-sheet for the OC's in the story so far. This is also how I basically interprete the characters and their personalities.

Apff Presents: The OC's Cheet - Sheet!

** Shadow**: A shadow elemental that is quiet and introverted. She generally does things by herself for herself, unless it is for a close freind. Once your her freind, you can trust your life with her. She often deals with her own problems, and rarely helps others. The extent of her powers deals with creation, the soul, and darkness. She ran away from her family a year after discovering her powers, and has lived in isolation until recently. She tried to enter Xavier's School, but freaked out and ran away.

**Davey**: Since he can absorb kenetic energy, he is very tentative around others. He is afriad of literally exploding. Davey discovered his powers from crashing in a drag race and walking away unharmed. He then accidentally blew up his truck. Davey is a southern gentalman, with a heart of gold. Once a day, he goes to a remote part of the woods and realeases the energy that he built up over the day. He will be a leader if no-one steps fourth, but doesn't prefer to.

**Liam**: Liam has Knowledge Replication, where if he was standing within a certan distance from you, he knows all of your talents. He is a cool-headed skater, and refers everything as 'cool' or 'not cool'. Due to his powers, he gets intense head aches. He received his power when he was twelve, getting a head ach from absorbing the knowledge / skills of his fellow class mates. Liam is also from the United Kingdoms.

**Matt**: With the ability to transform into a wolf, Matt has a some-what basic power. He got his powers at a relatively young age, when he was eight, and attacked the school bully. His family then moved away. Matt was a loner eversince the attack, and has tried to keep a calm personality since the transformation is triggered by anger. His abilities include accelerated healing, higher-than-adverage body tempreture, and enhanced stamina, speed, strength, and durability.

**Rhea**: With the ability to control dreams, she doesn't sleep much and fears that she may hurt her freinds. She, along with Matt and Liam, also developed her powers away from home. Few also know about her mutation. Rhea can be quick to snap, but is a stoic character over all. Can be considered a video game nerd, and likes being on the computer.

**Surya**: Surya is a twice orphan, his older step-siblings mainly took care of him. His mutation allows his skin to mimic whatever substance he touches. He is some what modest and humble, exept when it comes to intelligance or money when called for. He is also a perfectionist. He is also a claustraphobic, causing him to panic in overly messy, small areas. Surya is from India.

**Tonya**: Tonya lookes like a total ditzy blonde, but keeps it as a disguise. Contrary to popular belief, she acctually enjoys Physical Education. Since she is a pyromancer, Tonya fears water and drowning. Tried to be on the cheerleading squad at Bayville High, but once she was found out as a mutant, she was kicked off. Also, due to her power, the cold doesn't affect her. Tonya is from London, England.

**Zoe**: As the youngest of the group, the rest of the team look out for her. With the ability to control gravity, she isn't allowed to attend Bayville Middle, since she doesn't have full control over her power. Her hair is starting to grow purple, due to her mutation. Zoe is a goody-two-shoes, who tries not to get into trouble. She often tinkers with various object, creating abstract art pieces. She is the most recent member of the team.

**Shadowbeasts**: So far, there have been five. **Marcine**, a stoic mamothine (giant with an elephant head) with a caring heart, is an artist with many fine sketches and ink paintings published under her name. **Theo**, a blind basilisk, has a joking manner and is a talented singer with a melodic voice. **Wraithe** is a skeletal dragon who is often a spy, is Shadow's right hand beast. **Krados**, an immence spider, is cautious and strategic, often ambushing enimies that stand in his way. He is fiercely loyal to Shadow. **Phillis **is a young drakon, and is in the light world with Shadow. He is currently becoming freinds with Zoe.

Well, I hoped this helped. I'll be posting another one in a couple chapters or so, because I'm going to introduce more characters (there are some awesome ones that I'm really exited for!) and maybe give the shadowbeasts a slightly bigger role (I have an idea for Theo). PM or reveiw if you found this helpful, or not that helpful.

Keep on keeping on!

P.S. The next chapter will be up most likely on Sunday, because I have to go to a horse show with my sisters. I'm not showing, but I still have to go.


	7. Of Drakons and Palaces

Phillis awoke at moon rise. He streched and yawned, almost cat-like. Using his beak, he preened the new budding feathers appearing just above his heels. If there was one thing he could he could be prideful about, it was his feathers. They were an inky black, with streaks of ashen grey and iridesent silver. He felt the need to give everything a special name, other than 'grey' and 'black'. Phillis noticed that Shadow wasn't in the room. She probably got up earlier to make breakfast or something. Phillis sniffed the air, and his mouth watered. The delectable scent of food wafted through out the entire mansion. He hopped off the bed, and walked to the door, which was cracked open. He brushed his face between the opening, making it larger so the rest of him could fit. Phillis sniffed the air once more, pinpointing the source of the intoxicationg smell, and bounded down the hallway.

He named every color he passed. Mahogany browns, red velvets, porcelian whites, and midnight blues raced past him as he made his way to the food. He was in front of a massive door way after a couple of minutes, and gazing at the scene infront of him. He had never seen so much color in his short life!

One person was wearing an outfit that had, at the very least, five different shades of pink. Two other seemed to be covored in blue fur. Another one had dark skin, yet silvery hair that sharply contrasted. Phillis squealed in exitement, and bounded into the room...

And smacked into a girl's leg. She was the smallest, and possibly the youngest. She was wearing blue pants, made out of some rough material, and a long-sleeved shirt that was baggy, a sweatshirt? Phillis gave a lop-sided smile, and bounded to the food. All the scents made Phillis's mouth water. There was some kind of casserole that had green beans and little crunchy bread crumbs, a salad full of multiple fruits, and some thick, juicey steaks. Phillis stood on his hind legs to try to grab a plate, and found out that he was just centimeters too short. He stood on his claw-tips, streching his whole body to try and reach the plates. Then someone handed one to him.

It was the same girl that he ran into. She looked down on him with caring, dark brown eyes. Phillis gave another lop-sided grin, and wobbled on his hind legs to hold his plate. At every food choice, he held his plate up and asked with a polite "Please?" When he first did that, the girl looked surprized, but she gave him the food. After going through the entire line, he had a heavy plate brimming with food. His steps were more precarious, but Phillis managed to find a seat quickly. The girl sat next to him.

Zoe had never seen anything like this cat-bird-lizard-thing. It was jet black, yet had grey streaks in it's feathers. The feathers were also positioned so they fanned behind his head, like a mane. They were also a fan of feathers at the end of it's tail. "Your a funny little guy, aren't you?" Zoe asked after she sat down.

"Thanks! My name's Phillis." He spoke in a perky voice. He also sounded young, mabey like a nine or ten year old. "Can you believe how many colors are here? I mean, I'd never expect so many to be in one place!" He seemed to squeal with exitement before holding his spoon to dig into the green bean casserole. His hands could be compaired to a human's, but they had scales and sharp claws instead of regular skin and nails. He licked the edges of his beak, as if they were lips, and placed the spoonful of beans, breadcrumbs, and cream-of-mushroom concoction in his mouth. He sighed with content, and shoveled another spoonful into his maw. His tounge was also black, and it was forked. Phillis also seemed to have a certian degree of manners, because he sat as properly as he could, and held his silverware right.

Zoe picked at her own food. She was thinking about how she panicked this morning, and lost controle of her powers. Everyone seemed to have good controle of their powers, but she caused them to mess up, and make the situation worse. She felt tears stinging the back of her eyes. _No,_ She mentally scolded herself. _Mom expected me to learn control here. So what if I mess up on the first day? I could practice more!_ Zoe felt slightly better after the mental pep-talk, but still felt bad at the same time.

"Whaf wrong?" Phillis asked with a beak full of food. He looked concerned that his new freind was crying.

"Nothing." Zoe lied through her teeth. "So, where are you from?" She changed the subject before she would break down, again.

"Well, I'm from a place far away from here. It didn't _nearly_ have as many colors as this. Just black, with an occasional red or grey. What about you?" Phillis ended that with a cheerful question. He remembered that Shadow said to keep the answers very broad.

"Tacoma, Washington. It was some-what rainier and colder than here. Mom drove me here so I could controle my 'gift' better." Zoe finished, hoping that Phillis wouldn't ask for a demonstation.

Phillis gasped, "What is it? Can you show me?" He asked. The words were tripping out of his mouth.

Zoe swallowed, and focused on lifting her spoon, and oly her spoon. She felt a small twinge, letting her know that her power was activated. The gravity field around the spoon weakened, and it slowly floated up. It did a three-sixty, and fell back onto the table with a soft clatter. Zoe breathed a sigh of releif, it went better than expected.

"That was amazing! I couldn't believe that!" Phillis squealed again.

"What can you do?" Zoe asked.

"Watch." Phillis said. He slunk off his chair, and hid under the table. Zoe was about to point out that that wasn't a power, shen she felt someone poke her shoulder. She turned around, and saw herself. It was like looking into a mirror.

"Woah." Zoe gasped. She now understood his obsession with colors. The more colors he saw, the more convincing he can be while using his power.

"Yeah, but your power is cooler." He have his trademark lop-sided grin, and melted down to his normal self. He lept back up to his seat, and finished eating. Zoe finished as well, happy with her new freind.

She asked Phillis, "Hey, after dinner, do you want to play outside?"

Phillis nodded rapidly, already thinking of what they could do. Being in the light world was going to be so much fun!

Shadow had no idea how she managed to end up on an immence cloud, floating above the middle of the ocean. An aroura borealis was shimmering above her head, and the air was tropical and breezy. She sat up from a dense cloud that made her bed, and walked foreward. It felt like walking on a trampoline. She managed to make her way to a dining room-looking area, and saw someone sitting at the table. She stepped away from the door way, so she wouldn't bee seen by the guy sitting there.

Shadow felt her blindfold. Good, it was still there. She shyly peered through the doorway once more, to get better detail of the guy sitting at the table. He looked about her age, mabey slightly older. He was glaring into a wide, almost flat dish, that held a black, oily substance. It glistened and recoiled under the light, as if it was incredibly harsh. Shadow didn't blame the oil-stuff, even though she had her blindfold on, she was still squinting in the constant light. The guy placed a tan, weather-beatened hand over the bowl,and murmered something close to, "Lit und Luergera," With emphasis on the 'L's and 'I's. The room seemed to heat up a degree or two.

Those word made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. From the bowl, the oil-stuff shivered, and seemed to form a shape in the dish. It condensed, overlapped, and seemed to build upon itself. It formed something vaugly familiar, when realization dawned on Shadow. It was herself, made of the oily substance, standing in the bowl. Granted, it was a couple inches tall, but the resemblace was uncanny. It stood impatiently, and after a few seconds, the mini-her filcked it's bangs like she would impatiently. He smiled, and looked up from the bowl. "I know you're there. You can come out." He called to Shadow. Shadow was apprehensive to walk in the room, but did so.

"Ah," He sighed. "I bet your hungry. Come, have a seat." The dude seemed polite, nice even. But there was just something that irked Shadow about him. Was it his smile? It was straight, perfectaly even, with blinding white teeth. Maybe it was the way he walked? Or even his overconfident posture?

He noticed her staring, and continued gathering food to cook. This was an odd chick. He found her passed out in a dark alleyway, hugging her knees. There were no traces of any drug on her, yet she seemed sketchy. The blindfold didn't help, but if she was blind he wouldn't bother her. She continued to have a puzzled look on her face, when he cleared his throat.

"My name is Krad, Krad Boulivard. This is my humble home." He guestured around himself. He didn't want to call it 'The Cloud Palace', but no other name seemed to fit right.

The girl spoke. Her voice seemed broken, like it was never used. "Humble? And when is someone named 'dark' backwards?" She had a small, crooked smile as she said dark, but it dissapeared as soon as she finished the word. Her black clothes seemed dirty, and she also realized it. "Do you hve a place where I can change?"

"Um, I'm not entirely sure if you'll like my clothes..." Krad trailed off. The girl looked like she wore a lot of black, and rarely wore other colors.

She had a surprised look on her face, before a blush crept onto her face. "I have all my clothes with me." She spluttered out. She stuck her hand into her pocket, and pulled out five miniature replicas of luggage. Krad was about to point out that that is impossible, but the bags grew to their proper sizes, and sat by her feet. She grabbed a medium sized one, and asked, "Where's the nearest bathroom?"

"Down the hall, on the left." Krad pointed. He wondered how did she do that, when he realized he didn't even know her name. Maybe when she comes out of the bathroom.

Shadow realized that showers were the best invention ever. After a cold shower, she dried off. She picked through her clothes, before finding a nice black turtle neck and sutible black pants. She put on her undergarments, and slipped the turtle neck over her head. It felt comforting, and smelled of the shadow realm. She then slid on her pants, and buttined them up. _Onto the accessories._ She thought. Shadow grabbed black feather earrings, a black belt, a grey ribbon bracelet. She put everything on, and grabbed her black vest, putting it over her turtleneck. She noticed that her blindfold was wet, and beginning to dissolve slightly, making more light go into her eyes. She discarded the piece of cloth, and grabbed red aviator goggles, and put them over her eyes. They blocked the glare as well as the blindfold, but weren't as comfortable. They made here eyes stand out, though, circling a good inch and a half extra around them.

She walked back to the dining room area, where Krad was putting the finishing touches on the meal he made for her. He was about as tall as her, with faded brown hair and overly tan skin. He turned around, and looked at Shadow with kind, sky blue eyes, and asked, "Hungry? I have some fresh fish that I cooked up." He seemed to smile with his voice. He put the plate in front of a chair, and pulled out the chair, guesturing for Shadow to sit in it. She tentavly sat in it, and Krad pushed it back in before taking a seat across from her. "I never got your name before. What is it?" Krad asked in a curious voice.

"Shadow." She replied, before spearing a small piece of the fish, and placing it in her mouth.

"So, where are you from?" Krad tried to keep the conversation going.

"Not here." Shadow replied, picking at her food still. She ate a little of everything by now, and was eating more of the fish and cassorole stuff than the vegtables.

"I can see that. So, is there anything you enjoy doing?" He tried a broader subject, to see if Shadow would talk more.

"Sculpting, training, building." She said quickly. She stared at her food for a second, and began picking at the vegtables. A majority of the food was gone already.

"Well," Krad cleared his throat. "I'm more inerested in scrying and flight. Maybe I could teach you sometime."

"Sometime." Well, at least she didn't turn down the invatation. "What time is it?"

He stood up, and saw that she was almost nodding off. "Um, it's like three. I'll show you to the rooms." Krad was about to grab her luggage, when Shadow stopped him. She tiredly pointed to the bags, and they grew legs. Her luggage waddled behind her as Krad lead Shadow to an empty bedroom.

Shadow promptly collapsed on the bed, and passed out. Krad turned out the lights, so it was dark. Shadow ripped the goggles off of her face, and placed them on the night stand next ot her and curled up. Krad silently shut the door behind him, and wondered what Shadow does to be tired at three in the _afternoon_.

Sigh, this is a really short chapter. Oh well, I'll try to make the next one longer. Rate and Reveiw!

And Keep on keeping on!


	8. Next Team

*I just realized, I never put a disclaimer! I own nothing, not even the characters. Well, with the exeption of the shadowbeasts, Shadow, and Krad.*

Since the fiasco involving Zoe loosing control, new students have arrived. Zoe was never good with names, but Phillis helped her remember. There was Carl, who was quite, shy, and closed off. Zoe tried to give him one of the candy bars to cheer him up, but he smacked across the room, hitting Mr. McCoy, and her room ended up getting searched for any other sugary snacks. Damian isn't at the school a lot, but he scares Zoe, so she's okay with it. Jovie, or Jo, hangs out with her once in a while, but hangs out more with Tonya and Rhea. Nikolai shorts out the batteries to anything Zoe fiddles with. Harley is overly quiet, avoiding everyone and never making eye contact.

Zoe tried to make more freinds, but it didn't help that she was the youngest.

Harley has never experianced a true home. It didn't help that everyone at the mansion could kill her, even on accident. With her pale skin, bright light burned her. Her teeth were pointed, like a shark's, but couldn't really do damage. Her eyes...She hated her featureless eyes. All light blue.

She shivered. Since her skin was overly sensitive, she could only wear special clothing to prevent irritation. It didn't help that she destroyed things with her sharp nails almost daily. Harley felt like a burden, a hassel, and unwanted. At the hospital, they sliced her open repeatedly, looking at her organs while she was still awake. But one of the nicer docters always made sure that she had anstesia for the operations. The blades and needles remained burned into her brain, feeling them cut into her, injectng her with poisons, the numb feelings, the -

"You okay?" A boy with black, wildly curly hair sat next to her. His green eyes held a sad curiousness.

Harley just nodded, and looked away from his _normal_ eyes, with pupils and whites. Nikolai was the only one that really talked to her, and she was fine with that. She studied the room in front of her. There was a group of giggling airheads: Tonya, Kitty, Jo, and Rhea. Rhea wasn't really giggling, just sipping her fourth Monster. Off th the side was a group of jokesters, Bobby, Kurt, Jaimie, Davey, and Surya. Some others were there, but Harley didn't care about getting their names. Some were flirting, fighting, or trying to be 'cool'.

She heard someone clear their throat be hind her, and announce, "DR session in five minutes. Suit up, and get down there. If you don't have suits, wear something you don't mind getting dirty." It was the one with knives that came out of his knuckles. Harley almost had a panic attack before she heard the heavy boot-steps walk away.

"Come on, Ghost," Nikolai pulled her up, off the couch. Everyone in the mansion called her that, considering that's what she looked like.

Carl, or Creature (his codename), walked into the de-breifing room of the Danger Room. It was already semi-full, considering he had to go up to the seventh floor of the mansion to get to his room. He was one of the only ones in their suits. His was in what looked like street clothes, but his grey shirt had two vertical slits parallel to each other. His pants ended at his knees, and he wore white running shoes. He sat down between Davey, who was talking to Rhea, and Zoe, who was playing with her pet what-ever-it-was. Carl sighed, and hoped that the partners were pre-picked. He just remembered what his family said as he was kicked out into the streets.

_"You'll never step foot in this house!" "You have never been my son!" "Mutants are icky!"_ That last phrase came from his baby sister, barely five when he left. That one hit home harder than anything his parents said, since a year before she said she wanted to 'be just like him' when she got older. He had nothing, and lived with nothing for the next couple of years in that state. He wanted to die, but his mutation wouldn't allow him. Then he made it to the grounds of Xavier's, and collapsed. It was his new family, for now. Everyone here had a mutation, but he thought his was the worst. Carl put his head in his hands and sighed.

He felt a small, clawed hand rest on his leg. Carl peeked through the gaps in his fingers, to find that the little lizard-bird thing was staring at him with a concerned look in it's blood red eyes. Zoe had the same look as well. "What's wrong?" They each asked. They were both so niave and young...

"Nothing." Carl replied too quickly. Davey and Rhea stopped their conversation, and looked his way. "I'm fine!" Carl said through clenched teeth as he sat up. His hands turned into a lizard-like version, complete with razor-sharp talons, while being balled up into fists. He sighed, and the scales melted into his normal skin. Carl slouched, his head landing on his folded arms on his lap. "Just...Thinking." He finished lamely before closing his eyes.

Logan began role call. "Kurt."

"Here sir!" The German mutant _'Bamf!'_ ed into the room as soon as his name was announced.

"Tardy. Damian?"

"Present." Damian replied. He was a cool guy, and enjoyed working on cars. Carl would hang out with him sometimes in the garage just tinkering with car and motorcycle parts.

"Liam?"

"Present." An English accented voice called.

The rest of role call was like this, with 'Here!'s and 'Present's and the occasional 'What? Oh.' Once role call finished, Logan gave a breif discription of the exersize that they were doing. "We're working on defense today. The goal is to gaurd this ball," Logan explained, holding up a red, rubber dodgeball. "From whatever we throw at you. Teams have already been picked, and you won't know your team until it's your turn, with the exeption of the last team. Jean, Kurt, Damian, Tonya, and Surya, your up first."

Logan left the room, with the five teens following him uncertiantly. As soon as they left, everybody groaned. "We might as well see how they do." Scott pointed out, and then turned on a television that was mounted to the wall. At that point, Carl tuned out, and it was a blur.

"Krad, must there be _constant_ light?" Shadow complained. It would be dusk, but it was still as bright as midday. Northern lights shimmered across the bright blue sky, and light seemed to come from multiple suns. There was so much light, the entire palace seemed to be a few degrees hotter because of it.

"And why are you complaining?" At the moment, Krad and Shadow were lazily gliding above the surrounding ocean. If you looked at them from a distance, it looked like an overgrown albatross was wheeling in the sky next to an even bigger flying fox.

Krad personally had no problem with the constant light, since he could controle it. The first time he showed his powers in front of Shadow, she freaked. Likewise when she did the same. Krad found her powers creepy. It was unnatural how she bent the shadows to her will. But still, he couldn't help but stare in wonder as she used her mutation.

"Well," Shadow's voice jarred him from his thoughts. Her voice had gotten stronger, and she spoke a little more, but she still had a quiet voice that demanded attention. "Since a regular day had equal times of day light and night time, for the most part, I was thinking, why isn't it the same for here?" Translation: I'm sick and tired of wearing a blindfold twenty-four-seven. We need darkness.

He thought over the answer carefully. "Well, this is my home, and I controle the light, so..." He let the sentance trail off. Truthfully, he really didn't have a reason.

"So, your afraid of the dark?" Shadow thought of this as a foreinge concept. She always embraced darkness, and how it showed people's true selves. Before she ran away from home, there was a show called 'Dating in the Dark', which she watched faithfully. Many successful relationships were made because of that show.

"Not the dark!" Krad shot back, and hesitently continued. "Just things that are possibly in the dark." He looked towards the horison. He tried to remember what a sunset looked like. It has been a really long time since he has seen one. He almost ran head-on into Shadow's face. She was hovering up-side down.

Shadow suggested, "How about a comprimise? You get twelve hours of light, starting at seven in the morning, and I get twelve hours of darkness, starting at seven in the evening. During those twelve hours, whoever has their element up, gets to do whatever they want, as long as it doesn't disturb the other's sleep. The only comprimise is you can chose a way to get minimal light, and my room stays pitch black." Her face was inches from his, and she seened to be staring into his eyes. Krad has yet to see what color Shadow's eyes were, but he imagined them a dark color, or an extreamly light color.

"Seems fair." Krad silently agreed. It did seem fair, but something also seemed off putting.

"Great! 'Cause it's already nine!" Shadow cried out in glee. She turned into a sharp dive, and was already preparing to land onto the castle before Krad registered what she had said.

"Hey!" Krad zoomed after her. This might be a problem.

Phillis heard something. Not just anything, something that felt vaugly familiar. Like a ripping noise.

"Phillis, what's wrong?" Zoe asked. Her strawberry-blonde hair had deep purple roots now. She felt the little, cat-sized drakon stiffen in her lap. Zoe was typing up a report for her science class at the mansion. Mr. McCoy was a wonderful teacher, and promis that he would show her how to make stink bombs after she turned in her report about the organells in the cell.

The black lizard-like creature smiled at the eleven-year-old, not an easy feat with a beak, and replied, "I'm fine. What does the mitochondrian do again?"

As Zoe explained the different functions of the bean-shaped organell, Phillis felt a thread of hope. Maybe he would be able to find Shadow again.

The local Russian, Nikolai, was conditioning. Being a part of the boxing team in his home town, Moscow, he trained after dark in the Danger Room. After Mr. Logan showed the new recruits how to create programs for sessions, Nikolai has come up with a boxing arena, for one-on-one matches with different drones. For the more difficult ones, he has his favorite song play, _Power_ by Kanye West. The massive brute stepped into the ring. It easily towered over him, and had a menacing scowel on it's robotic face. (AN: This song has swearing, but it's a really cool song.)

_I'm livin' in the 21st century,_

_ Doing Somethin' mean to it._

_ Do it better than anybody _

_ You ever see do it._

_ Screamin' from the haters,_

_ Got a nice ring to it._

_ I guess evey superhero _

_ Needs his own theme music._

Adreniline raced through Nickolai, the song seemed to pump him up. Power corsed throughout his body. He raced towards the enemy-

Only to have it short out, and collapse on itself. Nickolai cursed in Russian, and stopped the simulation. He hoped that the Professor would fix the robots so that he wouldn't have to fight his freinds. Sure, it would feel good to punch Dylan in the face for acting all high-and-mighty, but the mansion's conduct wouldn't allow it. He tuned off the lights in the Danger Room, and walked to the weight room. In the weight room, there were miscallaneous equipment used for strenghtening and expanding endurance. In the far corner, there was a punching bag. It was a faded red with dull blue stripes, and it creaks at random moments, giving it a haunted feeling.

Nikolai but bandages over his knuckles, to keep his knuckes from bleeding too much. He placed a hand gently on the beat-up punching bag, and placed himself into a boxing mindset. He remembered that cheesy saying, '_Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee_'. It was true. If you weren't light on your feet, you were hit more. He cocked his fist back, and punched the bag as hard as he could. The faded, body-sized back recoiled back, and with sudden determination, rocked back towards Nikolai with a defiant creak. Nikolai stepped swiftly out of the way, and delivered another blow. It continued like this for the next hour. The blows got faster, the creaks got angrier, and Nikolai grinned in pure malice.

He imagined the bag as his past opponents, and his present enimies. Dylan, Mountain, his Algebra teacher, and a couple others were imagined in place of the bag. Nikolai heard something to his left.

He stopped the bag from pummeling him by taking a defensive position, and then catching it before the bag swung away. He looked for the source of the noise, and saw Ghost at the entrance of the weight room. A look of horror was plastered on her face. A flashlight that was in her loose grip tumbled to the floor, before she bolted away. "Ghost," He wispered, and then ran after her. If he got close enough, he could nullify her power to get away. "Ghost!" He called after her.

Harley ran. She ran like she was back in the labs. She had to get away from danger. She tried to phase through a corner, but ran into it. Terrified, she ran faster. "Ghost, wait!" Nikolai called after her. How could anyone posses so much anger, and like it? Her gasping breath broke her thoughts, signaling that she needed to stop. Harley hid behind a corner, hoping that Nikolai didn't see her.

Nikolai paused at the perpendicular hallways. Ghost could've gone down any one of them. He listened hard, to see if he could hear any footsteps. Instead, he heard smothered gasps to his right. He turned that way, and heard a stifled gasp. He saw Ghost pressing her back against the wall, with one of her pale hands over her mouth, as if to keep from screaming. He walked up to her, and she shrunk back, sitting on the ground now. It pained his heart. "Please, Ghost. I-I didn't mean to scare you." He tried to speak in an even, calm tone, but he choked the words out. She shrunk back more, recoiling from his voice.

A single sob echoed across the deserted hallways. Harely saw the tears threatening to fall in Nikolai's eyes. He knelt down in front of her, with a pained expression on his face. Harley summoned all her courage, and leaned foreward. She stopped with her face just centimeters away from his. Even from his workout, he still smelled like a pine forest. "Nikolai," Harley whispered. "Thank you."

Damian was a night owl by nature. At fifteen, he worked at a garage in a small town in Kentucky. With such a small town, it depended on local agriculture to get by. You'd be surprized how many tractors broke down in the span of a day. He was also familar with other machenery, due to a small factory that ran on the outskirts of town. He was tinkering with his motorcycle, his pride and joy. His black trade-mark leather jacket was thrown onto the red aluminum workbench behind him. He was just changing a few things on his bike for the international holiday coming up, Halloween. He added large mufflers that spewed flames, along with repainting his bike black, and re-applying some black leather to the seat. This year would be the first time he celebrated in five years, and he was going as the Ghost Rider, and not as some cheap knock-off. Since he had pyromancing abilities, he was going to set his head on fire, just like it was in the movie. He just needed some black heat-resistant paint, and his costume would be the best.

Hey!

It's me again! The internet at my house was wonky this week, so I had very little inspiration. (No internets from Sunday night to Thursday evening. Tourture? You bet.) Also, the next chapter will be Halloween-themed, so if you have any costume ideas, please let me know (and it doesn't have to be your OC). If not, I will give them something probably unorigional (Kitty is going to be a Cat). Well, Reveiw away!

Keep on keeping on!


	9. This is Halloween

Halloween. All hallows eve. The night where monster, goblins, and ghouls rule. When the dead come to life and walk among the living. It was also the day where you get huge, honking amounts of overly sugary, holy-sneezus-is-that-a-purple-cow-hee-hee-hee-OMG-sugar-high candy.

And that is what Zoe planned exactaly. By interveiwing the other students in the mansion, she came up with the most efficiant route to get the most candy. After swinging around Marilyn Street, she beelines to 5th Avenue because everyone on Trice Drive has haunted houses set up for the teens. This year, she was going as a gypsy. It was simple, easy, and the other girls let her borrow any items she needed. She also got to see what the other girls were going to be. Jean was a nurse, and Kitty was a cat. Tonya, Rhea, and Jo didn't let Zoe know what they were going to be, and they said that everyone will know before they go trick-or-treating.

The boys were more open to tell her. Scott was a doctor, and paired with Jean. Surya, Davey, and Liam were also secretive about what they were going to be for Halloween, but Zoe didn't pry. Carl announced that he was going to be a Missing Link, which made her wonder, 'What link?'. Kurt was going to be hipster, and Matt and Rhane were wolf-people. Nikolai was a vampire, but "not the stupid sparkly ones". Phillis was going to be her gypsy pet. She just coaxed him into a harness, so they wouldn't get into trouble by the police. Zoe attached two pouches to the harness, so Phillis could trick-or-treat too.

"So, this 'Halloween', how does it work?" Phills asked a couple hours before the trick-or-treating began.

"Um, well, you walk up to someone's door, knock on it, and say 'Trick-or-treat'." Zoe explained. "After that, the person who opened the door gives you candy." Zoe attached the leash to Phillis's harness, and sprinked glitter in his feathers. The harness was a shimmery gold with small green studs. The leash was the same, but it had smaller red ones as well. Zoe had a purple sparkly bandana on her head, a multicolored colored dress on, and tons of large fake jewels. Of course, she had the traditional orange pumpkin bucket in one hand, and in the other she held onto Phillis's leash.

They waited in the common room for the other students. Damian was one of the first to come. His face was painted black, with gaps around his mouth and eyes to simulate a black skull. He wore black leather, and looked like a chain-gang biker. He had a smirk on his face, as if he had an inside joke with himself. The keys to his motorcycle were being twirled around his finger absent-mindedly. Damian seemed to be mumbling some song under his breath, but Zoe couldn't make out any of the words.

The next person to walk in was Carl. Using his power, he had given himself fins and scales that were a murky, swampy color. With ragged clothes on and a dried green slime in his messy hair, Carl looked like he had risen from a swamp, just to partake in the holiday activities. "What are you supposed to be, Damian? A charred skeleton?" Carl spoke in a grackle-squawk, in order to maintain his character.

"You'll see." Damian kept smirking.

A trio of girls came in, all dressed as different Poke'mon. Jo was in a short light blue dress, with white circular pockets and long, light blue tights. Over her head was a dark blue hood, that lead to a dark blue cape. She had on bright yellow sneakers, and yellow lipstick on. Rhea was in a long green shirt, with dark green denum shorts. She had small, white flats on, and on her head was a dark green hat, that seemed to have a large leaf that reached to the middle of her back. Around Rhea's neck was a choker made of dark green pearls.

Tonya's however, was the most flamboyant one. Any pink that she was wearing earlier was gone. She wore black pants, with an orange v-neck long-sleeve shirt and a red, see-through baggy silk shirt that hung off one of her shoulders. A headband with two black ears erect weas in her platinum-blonde hair. With flame-yellow face paint, she gave herself a blaze that extended over the bridge of her nose. Black leather gloves were on her hands, and small orange heels were on her feet. "I told you guys that this was a great idea!" Tonya exclaimed as she bounced into the room. Attached to the back of her pants was a black, coiled tail that had an orange orb at the end.

"And what are you three?" Carl and Damian were bewildered by the girl's stange costumes.

"Duh, I'm a Piplup. Rhea over there is Chikorita," Jo pointed to the girl dressed in green, "And Tonya is a Tepig!"

Tonya bounced over, and loudly proclaimed, "Our costumes are_ the _best!" With an enourmous grin on her face.

While the commotion was going on, Nikolai and Harley snuck in. Harley wore a white cloak with a hood, Creed-of-Assasins style. Underneath it, was a white, floor-length dress with intracate designs stiched in silver around the bottom. Long, elegant sleeves extended from the dress. Overall, she looked like a very elegant spirit, with small clear pearls draped arounde her neck. Nikolai, however was the complete opposite. With a dusty, old-fasioned black tuxedo and his face full of pale make-up, he looked like a vampire from old. The pair walked in the room hand in hand, and sat on the smaller red couch together.

"ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL!" Davey and Matt hollered at the top of their lungs, with raipers held high. They began to shuffle foreward. At first, they looked like the three musketeers, but then they had ragged, dirty clothes and make up on to look like rotting flesh.

"Yeah, what they said." Liam walked in behind them, wearing the exact same thing. He was the least enthusiastic about being a zombie-musketeer.

Scott and Jean, a doctor and nurse combo, were the last to come. Jean had a white, sterio-typical white old-timey nurse outfit, while Scott was wearing light green scrubs. "Shall we begin trick-or treating?" He asked as the older X-men entered. Bobby was Jack Frost, Rouge was a goth princess, Kitty was a cat, Kurt was dressed in brand-less clothes, Jamie was a ninja army (with the origional as a ninja overlord), and Roberto and Jubliee were both mummies.

Well, let's just say you would get the same reaction if a collage football team scored a goal at a home game.

Piper Blackhorse needed to get away from home for a while. What better excuse than Halloween? Under the disguise of the greek goddess Athena, she roamed around a small neighboring town close to her family's tribelands. Her dark black hair was bound up in a tight french braid, and she had a gold circlet was delicately perched on her head. She had put on make-up, which was rare for her, and a long, billowing greek-styled robe. She was under one of the town's only street lamps, her hair giving off a light purple sheen. The business next to the streetlamp, Tomahawk's Hardware, was hosting a cheesy haunted house. Blowups of ghosts and fake tombstones were between her and the entrance of the local store. A small line had begun to form in front of the store, and Piper was content on just people-watching for the moment.

While watching the different costumed people, she heard a whispered conversation behind her.

"There is no way in the seventh hell you are getting me in there." A more feminine voice hissed.

"Shads, it's so fake, it's as fake as, as-" A male voice was straining for something to compare it to.

"Your hoo-doo fortune telling?" Shads suggested.

"Yes! No! Ugh, just go inside." The male seemed annoyed by Shads.

The couple walked into Piper's feild of vision. The girl had her pale blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail, with long bangs that reached to her jaw line. She wore all black, which was a great contrast to her overl pale skin. Black pants, black shirt, and a thin black jacket to keep the cold fall air from biting her. In British Columbia, it had already snowed. The girl also had a black cloth wrapped around her eyes, as if she was blind, and a scowl on her face. The boy, however, was a complete opposite. He wore bright colors that made him stand out in the croud. His winter jacket was a neon blue, and his pants were as white as the fresh snow falling from the sky. His dark hair seemed to have natural bleached streaks, as ir he spent way too much time in the sun. He had tanned skin, and light blue eyes that sparkled with laughter and joy.

"Hey, do you guys want to go into the haunted house with me?" Some one called to them. The dynamic duo spun around to face Piper. That's when she realized that she was the one that spoke. "Ya know, if ya want to." Piper finished lamely.

"Why not? My name's Krad, and this is Shadow." The boy, Krad introduced himself and the girl that accompanied him. She just nodded in acknowledgement.

"My name's Piper Blackhorse." She held out her hand for a formal handshake, that Shadow took.

"Blackhorse, eh? Not really into horses, though." Shadow was wearing black leather fingerless gloves, but her hands were ice cold. She had strange black lines on her fingers.

"Well, we might as well get in line, it seemes to be getting pretty long." Krad pointed out. The new trio made their way to the end of the line, disscusing about any appropriate topic that came to mind.

It turns out, Krad and Shadow owned a house outside of town where they lived together. They invited her to live with them, and Piper found herself saying yes. They would meet up at Tomahawk's Hardware, and They would show Piper their home. Piper agreed quickly.

"Godess! You must let us know when you go out! We have been searching for you all night!" A frantic tribe-person greeted me as soon as I got back home. Krad and Shadow were with me. They wanted to help me pack. We had been running around until maybe two in the morning, Krad and I were dragging our feet. Shadow seemed wide awake. She threw a questioning glance at me, as if she was saying, _Why did this indian freak just call you a goddess?_ My hair was messed up, and my make-up was smudged. I hardly looked like a goddess. They guy that met them was dressed like a typical towns-person, with the exeption that he had a weathered face and pronounced every syllable that he spoke. His thick, scarred hands ushered us inside a large farm house, where Piper's family sat worridly.

Her mother was wearing a more traditional Canadian-Indian clothes, with animal hide and beads. Her fater, however, was in more modern wear, with the exeption of his elaborate headress. "Piper, you know you should have told us where you were going, you could have been-"

"Taken, killed, raped, and your body dumped into a frozen wasteland where you would never be found?" Shadow suggested calmly. She said it like it was a normal, everyday activity, like _washing the dishes_ or _ emptying the trash_.

"Who are your, ah, freinds?" Her mother said tensly. Piper could tell her parents were wary about her even having freinds with in the tribe, much less with random stangers she met while disobeying her parents.

"Mother, Father, this is Krad and Shadow." They just both calmly acknowledged Piper's parents.

"Well, it was nice of your new freinds to keep you safe, right dear?" Piper's mother said with a strained voice to her husband.

"Piper, off to bed, and your freinds-"

"We live quite a ways away, so can we crash here for the night Mr. Blackhorse?" Shadow interrupted Piper's father once more.

"Yes, you can spend the night here. After all, it's the least we can do for you guy's keeping our little goddess safe." Piper's mother seemed to be despratly trying to convince her husband.

"I guess," He faltered, but then he commanded in a firm voice, "But only one night."

Piper ran up to her father and hugged him. "Thank you Father!" And went to drag Krad and Shadow up to her room.

Her family lived in a log-cabin castle. Due to her father being the current cheif, they got the largest, most extravagant house in the tribe. Her room was in the attic. The sloping walls were painted with splotches of purple, a deep regal blue, and dark red splatters, Pollux-style. On the walls were posters of animals native to Canada, foxes and other native canines, along with killer whales and seals. On her bead sat a stuffed animal lion, it's beady eyes glaring at the wart hog sitting next to it. Piper grabbed two sleeping bags that she stored under her bed. One was blue, and had glow in the dark planets on it, and the other one was was a solid black. She gathered her pj's, and headed to her bathroom to get ready for bed. Both Krad and Shadow turned down the offer of borrowing pj's, insisting that they will be fine.

Piper slipped on purple sweatpants and a white sports bra, and walked back out. She smelled something, and sneezed. Suddenly, she was much shorter. _No, not now!_ Piper thought frantically, before she heard a triumphant "Ha ha!"

Krad handed Shadow what looked like two dollars, and mumbled something about something being unfair.

"I told you I'm never wrong." Shadow proclaimed proudly. "You, my good madame, are a mutant. Just like us!"

Krad looked shocked. "Shadow just said more than two sentances in a row. We need to prepare for the end of the world."

Piper was still hung up on the fact that she was called a mutant. Aren't mutants those terrorists you hear about on the news? Her father looked at the news about mutants, and said that they needed to be driven out. How could she possibly be one? The shock of it caused her to turn back into a human. She numbly walked to her bed, and sat heavily on it. "How?" Piper's mouth felt dry.

"Something about genetics." Shadow informed her.

"What can you guys do?" Piper saw on the news an older teen shoot lazer out of his eyes, and another one seem to disappear and reappear in a puff of smoke.

"Light manipulation, scying, and slight control over time." Krad replied with a coy smile, as if challenging Shadow to do better.

With a manic grin, Shadow replied, "Shadow manipulation, nocturnalism, hightened senses, slight control over space, and minor teleportation."

"Where do you guys live anyway?" Her tiredness seemed to desert her. Piper wanted to know as much about mutants as possible.

Krad spoke. "We're going to have to get up early," the sentance trailed off.

"I'd hate to say this, but," Shadow paused, and seemed to scan the room. She crept silently towards the stairs, and lept down them. A loud 'oof' was heard, and Shadow dragged something up the stairs.

Being dragged in by his hair was Piper's twin brother, Clark. His hair was dark and colorless, similar to his eyes. Even though he was born and raised in Canada, he had always been overly tan. A thick scowl was plastered on his face, and he never made eye contact with anyone in the room. "Freaks, all of you. You should all be dead." He spat. Shadow pulled the boy up until he was about eye level with her. She was six feet tall, her twin was five foot two.

Shadow spoke in a calm, emotionless voice. "Sir, by definition, you are the freak. You have a soul blacker than mine. With that, you will do amazing things. Terrible, but amazing. Remember this: what happened to the amazing, terrible leader that everyone knows? He was responsible in the deaths of almost ten million deaths. He also rebuilt a country from the lowest of the lows. He commited suicide when the opposing side was at his front door. Hitler was that man. Would you like to be the next Hitler?"

Shadow let go of Clark, and he scurried away. "Piper, get packed. We need to leave."

"But it's almost four in the morning. How?" Krad asked. He wouldn't be able to fly for three minutes, let alone three hours.

"Help her pack, I will get you two a ride." With that, Shadow went to the darkest corner of the room, and concentrated.

"What-" Piper began to ask, but Krad shushed her, and grabbed a spare bag she had hanging in her room. Piper began packing, and Krad stood gaurd at the entrance to the room.

"Piper, your finished now." Krad said a few minutes later. He walked to her, and zipped up her bag. "Shadow is done charging, and our ride shall be ready."

Piper glanced over to Shadow, and almost lept back. Shadow had ripped off her blindfold, to show that her eyes were a featureless blood red the eminated power. Her entire body was outlined in black fog-like fire, and she seemed to slightly vibrate. "_**Stand back.**_" Shadow said in an alien voice. Piper's room had an industrial window on one side, so she could look at the stars. The window seemed to melt out of existance when Shadow stepped in front of it, and thrusted her hands into the chilly Canadian air.

In the back yard, and immence bird sat. It was easily the same size as the house. The bird had oily jet-black feathers, and four menacing red eyes. It's jagged black beak was a foot from Shadow's out-streched palms. It gave a strange hiss, like a train using it's brakes. After that, Shadow's hands fell to her sides. She pulled out her blindfold out of her pants pocket, and tied it around her eyes. "Let's go." She said. Her voice was back to normal, and she climed out of the window and onto the oily bird's beak. Piper followed her, and behind her Krad followed with her suitcase. Even though the bird's feathers looked oily, they were surprizingly soft and comfortable. The trio sild down the bird, and to the ground, the safest way to desend from three stories.

Underneath the bird, was three clawed, scaled legs. The looked much like chicken feet, but over the middle toe was an indented scale, almost like a seat. Piper sat on the middle foot, and Krad handed her her suitcase, before heading to the foot on her right. Shadow sat on the foot to her left. "Hang on." They both said in unison, which was like a creepy surroun sound warning. Before Piper could process what they said, thin black tendrils wrapped around her, binding her to the bird's leg. The massive bird crouched down, and with a massive leap, became air-bourne. The bird pulled it's three legs underneath itself, surrounding Piper in a mass of soft, warm feathers.

She leaned back, and realised that a thick leg scale served as a back rest. It was tilted so it was cofortable to lean back, and it seemed to curve so she wouldn't have to worry about falling out it the bird took a sharp turn. For some reason, it was always comfortably warm, never stifling hot or freezing cold. The tendrils morphed, and turned into a seat belt. Piper felt her eyelids become heavy, and soon she was asleep with out knowing.

GAH! I'M SO LATE!

Oh well, at least I'm posting this chapter before Halloween. If you want to see a picture of Piper Blackhorse, search her up on deviant art. The artist, known on fanfiction as PurpleLunaWolf, is also in the process of sketching the other characters in the story. Thanks to all that reveiwed, and have a happy Halloween!

Keep on Keeping on!


	10. Illness and Kidnapping

Sorry for the late update. I've been busy, and hardly found time to type this chapter. That's why it's a week late.

ONWARD!

Krad awoke with a jolt. He took in his surroundings. Pastel-colored walls with posters of everything from heavy metal bands to rainbow colored ponies. Krad was confused for a moment, because he clearly remembered passing out on his way home. He swung himself out of bed, and realized that he was wearing the same clothes that he was in yesterday. Discusted, he took a shower and dressed him self in cleaner clothes. He put on a sky blue shirt with the outline of wings in the back, and a pair of green jeans. Krad brushed down his almost ebony hair down, and realised that the roots of his hair were getting unnaturally lighter. They had become a oaky brown, while the rest of his hair was a deep black. He just sighed, and walked out of his room.

Going through the maze of hallways, he thought. What if last night was a dream? It could be, considering how much Shadow talked. She barely uttered a word to him. And she also laughed. And that Piper girl could've been a figment of his imagination. He immediatly dissmissed all doubts when he walked into the kitchen.

Shadow was sitting there, with a plate of lasanga she cooked up yesterday. Piper also had a plate of it too, and they were laughing as some joke. Well, Shadow was cackling more than laughing.

Piper was in a skin-tight ebony shirt, with a considerably looser purple sweater that draped over one shoulder. Her pants were plain blue jeans, and faded brown skater sneakers were on her feet. A small carved fox was the pendent one her necklace, the only jewlery that she currently wore.

Shadow wore a loose v-necked black shirt, with her almost-trademark unzipped black hoodie, and long black skinny jeans. Black feather earrings graced her dark ensamble, along with a tarnished silver claw at the end of her necklace. The end of her tail was a twisted, lizard-like hand that held a black hairbrush, brushing her pale hair. For once, Shadow didn't have on her blind fold or sunglasses.

"Krad, I didn't know you were a bronie!" Piper exclaimed. The newly aquainted mutant held up her wrist. On it was a thick rubber bracelet that had the six pastel ponies galloping around it.

"Bronie?" Krad just thought this was a cool shirt, and liked the rainbow lightning bolt on the corner.

Shadow butted in. "Yeah, she was just explaining the show to me. These 'My Little Ponies' are complete bad-asses. Fighting dragons fifty times their size, over throwing _two_ evil overlords, and managing to restore peace in just about every episode? It takes serious skill to do that."

"Well, I'll get some breakfast, and see what these ponies are all about."

The day was going swimmingly for Liam. The day started with a splitting headache, followed shortly by spilling his breakfast in his lap. once he tossed the stained clothes into the wash, he put on a new outfit and skated at the speed of light to make it to school seconds before the bell. A second splitting headache, causing him to trip and scrap his knee while changing classes. Receiving an 'F' on his Algebra II test (the kid who acctually understood this was absent the day of the test), he sighed. The day was going from bad to worse. In Chemestry, his lab partner (a total 'nerd' that would be alone otherwise) spilled some acid that ate another hole into his pants. After a heat-flash in lunch, a group of bullies walked over to him and his skater freinds, shoving him and calling him a 'foreing mutie'. Profanities were thrown, as well as acouple punches, and that landed everyone into Principal Kelly's office. Liam was suspended for three days, and the bullies got off at the mansion, he got thrown with Logan for punishmet, DR training in place of the missing school. The world began swimming through his eyes.

"Dude, you okay?" It sounded like Matt. A tan blur moved rapidly across his feild of vision.

Liam smiled weakly at his friend. "I'm fine Wolfie. Just slammed. Everything will be better soon." _Hopefully_, he tought silently before buring his head in his arms. He slouched foreward on the oak desk on his side of his room. Everyone else just got back from school a couple of minutes ago.

Matt couldn't beleive the messy-haired punk. Liam was pale under his splashed freckles, and his emerald eyes out of focuse. The skater tensed, as if trying to shield himself from an invisible attacker, and stood up holding his temples. Liam collapsed onto his bed before Matt could say anything. Matt walked over and sat next to the laying figure.

"Man, if something's wrong, I'm all ears." Matt placed a comforting hand onto Liam's back.

Bleary eyed, Liam asked, "May I have a glass of water?" Liam felt his throat almost shatter with the last word. He felt another heat-flash surge through his body. Shuttering, he curled up into a more comfortable position.

"One glass of water, coming up, Brit Boy." With an elabotate butler bow, Matt exited the room.

After that, Liam fell into a dreamless sleep.

"Vienna, are you sure you're up to this? There is a possible chance you could die." Detective Eona told his daughter.

"Dad, this isn't any different than any other case." The purple-haired teen pointed out. "A kidnapping, and the need to bring this filthy pig to justice."

"This is different. It was a jointed crime. Two teens committed it, not a full grown adult. They spent the evening with the girl, convinced her parents to spent the night at her house, and dissapeared without a trace. The brother of the victum said that the two teens were mutants, but we can't jump to that conclusion yet." He explained the seriousness of the case. This was unlike anything the he had ever been involved in.

Silence filled the little four-doored coup, with a quiet Owl City song in the background. It didn't really make sense, but it made nice white noise.

Veinna pondered. Who were these people, and how could they pull off something like this? There must be a higher power behind them, or some supernatural occurance. The possiblity of this happening without any planning, order, or even instructions was slim to none.

The navy coup pulled up to a log mansion. It was at least three stories high, and had a four car garage with shiny black Italian models in them. "Rich much?" Vienna asked nobody impiticular.

"The girl that was kidnapped was none other than Piper Blackhorse, the daughter of the cheif and a supposed goddess in the tribe." Detective Eona gave details of the victum for the first time.

"Why would someone try to kidnap -. Nevermind." Vienna thought about the possible reprocussions. With someone that important, it could be just for ransom alone.

Detective Eona continued. "The surrounding areas have been scoured for the past couple of days, and nothing has turned up so far." He parked the car in the wide driveway. "We're here to interveiw the family, and see were the kidnappers might strike again." They inhaled deeply,and put on work faces. Litterally poker faces, as if they had hearts of stone.

They then entered the house. The Living Room had a native american theme to it. A tall, thickly build man sat on the couch, comforting a thinner smaller woman whose body was wracked with sobs. Opposite of them were two inspectors. One noticed Detective Eona and Vienna, and ushered them aside. The trio stood beneath an elaborate painting of a buffalo in a golden field. "The parents couldn't give us much detail, but we're interveiwing thier son now." The inspector spoke in a Jersey accent.

"May we enter the interrigation," Detective Eona made the sentance sound more like a demand than a question.

"Certianly." The investigator from New Jersey almost stuttered. Detective Eona was one of the best in the business. His daughter was even better.

The trio stopped in front of the entrance of a study. They heard yelling. "I tell you, this was unnatural! The shadows bent to her will! Light blinded me! They flew away on a giant bird!" The shreiking continued into nonsense. Detective Eona slammed the door open. A Canadian-Indian boy stood over a pale detective, waving his arms around, guesturing while shreiking at the top of his lungs. "She had bright red eyes! Flash of light! Oily feathers!"

Vienna tackled the boy, pinning him to the ground so his stomach was parallel to the wooden floor. Detective Eona kneeled in front of the deranged youth, and asked in a calm voice, "I want you to listen carefully. Explain what you saw."

The boy was panting, trying to catch his breath. The pale detective tipped his cowboy hat, "Thank-ee, sir. I thought that young-un was 'bout to kill me in 'is frenzy." The detective had such a heavy southern accent, his word seemed to be dragged out of his mouth. "Now, can ya tell yur story without gitten at anybody's throat?"

Vienna got off the boy. He stood up slowly, and dusted himself off. "My name is Clark, and everything I will tell you is absolutly true..."

I'm sorry for the delay! It has been busy, and I'll be posting a new character sheet next. So, expect that (at the latest) Monday. That is all.

Keep on Keeping on!


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